A disgruntled employee who had been fired confronted a man at his former River Falls workplace and pointed a gun in his face last week.

Noah Raymond Angus, 26, was ordered to pay $15,000 cash bond Nov. 19 in St. Croix County Circuit Court on felony first-degree recklessly endangering safety, operate firearm while intoxicated, resisting or obstructing an officer and disorderly conduct charges. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 12.5 years in prison and/or fines up to $25,000.

According to the complaint:

River Falls police were dispatched at 7:49 a.m. Nov. 18 to O’Reilly Auto Park (1668 Commerce Court) for a report of an armed man who had pointed a pistol at his former manager’s head, then left on foot towards his apartment on Riverside Drive.

When officers didn’t find the suspect, identified by his former boss as Angus, at O’Reilly’s, they searched the area and found Angus walking through the parking lot of 1477 Riverside Drive toward his vehicle, a red Mercury Marquis. As Angus opened his trunk, officers ordered him to lay on the ground. They saw a holstered pistol on his right side. An officer decided to decentralize Angus, who wasn’t following commands, by forward kicking him in the center of his back, causing him to fall forward. The officer removed the gun from Angus, tossed it out of reach and handcuffed him. Besides the pistol, they removed two pocketknives from his person.

Angus appeared to be intoxicated and smelled of alcohol. His face was red, his eyes were glassy and his emotions see-sawed from outrage to crying. He agreed to speak to police and told them he had worked for O’Reilly’s for about a year but had been fired the Thursday prior after being accused of using cocaine at work. He said he went to O’Reilly’s this morning because they were “going scorched earth” on him. He said he talked to his old boss, who was outside smoking a cigarette, for 15-20 minutes before the conversation escalated and he decided to point the gun in his boss’s face because he’s “Second Amendment.” He claimed his finger was off the trigger and that no round was chambered, but when police confiscated the gun, it had a live round chambered.

Angus said he’d been drinking all night and didn’t think he’d slept, but was surprised it was 7 a.m. and not 7 p.m. He said he’d been drinking that morning and admitted to drinking seltzers, hard drinks and mixed drinks. He consented to a vehicle and home search. Officers found an AR-10 inside his apartment and a machete in his car. His apartment was littered with alcohol cans and bottles.

Officers interviewed the O’Reilly store manager and another employee, who said Angus had walked up to them that morning while they were smoking. The store manager said he heard the door rattle at 7:10 a.m. but ignored it and continued his paperwork. He and another employee went outside to smoke around 7:25 a.m., when Angus approached them. They said he was upset about an incident the previous day in which he had tried to retrieve his space heater from behind the counter after he had already been terminated. When the store manager told him he didn’t have permission to be behind the counter the day before, Angus pulled the pistol out and pointed it in his face for 5-10 seconds, stating that nobody tells him what to do. The gun barrel was about an inch from his face. He kept calm and told Angus he had to go back to work, who reholstered the gun and left. The store manager said prior to Angus arriving, he’d received a text message from Angus stating that he better call him or he wouldn’t have a store to come to.

O’Reilly’s district manager, who arrived at the store, told police Angus had been fired Nov. 13 for bad-mouthing the company, possibly using drugs at work and exploding in front of customers. After being fired, all anyone heard from him was a text message stating he had cash jobs lined up that Uncle Sam can’t touch. He then appeared at the store Nov. 17 to retrieve the space heater. When an employee told him he couldn’t go behind the counter, he became agitated, said no one can tell him what to do and left.

After detaining Angus at his apartment building, police transported him to St. Croix County Jail without incident, where he registered a PBT reading of .230.

Angus was scheduled to appear in St. Croix County Court at a preliminary hearing in Court Room 6 at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 25.