MTN NEWS — The suspect who allegedly threatened an East Helena High School student with a gun on Thursday made his initial appearance in court on Friday.
Forty-six-year-old Ryan Christopher Williams appeared in Judge Mark Piskolich's justice court for a felony charge of assault with a weapon.
Judge Piskolich set a $20,000 bond for Williams, and if that gets posted, Williams will be required to turn over his guns to another adult and report to pre-trial services.
According to an affidavit, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Bandra Drive in East Helena around 7:30 AM on Thursday.
The affidavit says the victim was on their way to school when Williams allegedly "used evasive driving to cut off the victim," and then he got out of his vehicle and approached the victim.
Williams is then accused of motioning for the victim to roll down their window with an open hand while the other hand allegedly contained a small pistol.
The victim "partly rolled down their window," and Williams allegedly pointed a gun at them and "told them the driving behavior was too fast, and they couldn't drive like that in a residential area."
The court documents say, "The victim agreed, and the suspect lowered the fire and then returned to their car, and both people left the area."
The county prosecutor says that Williams has "practically no criminal history," but "he has had multiple involvements with law enforcement related to violent threats."
She said that "in the last week or so, Mr. Williams also had law enforcement involvement because he was making threats to someone else with a gun."
Since it is a felony charge, Williams did not enter his plea during his initial appearance.
