A gun-wielding man was arrested Tuesday night after allegedly pointing the firearm at passing motorists in west-end Summerside, shortly after dark.
Kyle Lawrence Benoit, 27, of Summerside is facing numerous charges after motorists in the area reported seeing a man walking on South Drive pointing what appeared to be a rifle at their vehicles.
Benoit was picked up by Summerside Police Services a short time later and now faces charges of careless use of a firearm, pointing a firearm and possession of a weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public. His next court appearance will be Oct. 3 to enter his plea. He appeared in Summerside provincial court on Wednesday to answer to the charges.
Terry Anstey of Summerside was one of the people who reported the incident to police.
Anstey was driving home around 8:45 p.m. when he noticed a man wearing blue jeans and without a shirt standing in the rain in the middle of the road, pointing something at cars that passed him.
It was dark so it wasn’t until he was almost right next to the man that he noticed the object appeared to be a rifle. He said the gun was pointed at his car from a distance of about three feet.
It happened so quickly that he didn’t really have time to react, Anstey said.
“You think to yourself, ‘did I actually just see that?’”
“It was a scary couple of seconds, that’s for sure … It wasn’t until I got home that I kind of thought, ‘I just had a gun pointed at me.”
Anstey drove to the police station to report the incident.
Police responded to South Drive and one officer alleges that Benoit pointed the weapon at his cruiser before realizing it was a police vehicle and lowering it. Benoit was taken into custody on the scene.
Police recovered a rifle-style BB gun. Benoit remains in jail until his next court appearance.
A similar incident occurred Sept. 5, downtown in the parking lot at the Harbourfront Theatre. A different man was arrested in that incident and will return to court to face charges on Sept. 24 for sentencing in relation to that incident.
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