Man arrested on aggravated assault charge

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man was arrested Wednesday on allegations that he menaced a landowner with a rifle.

Braydon Andrew Kearl, 20, is charged with aggravated assault. He made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Friday via video feed from the county jail.

Judge Debra Heise ordered Kearl held in lieu of $5,000 and appointed a public defender to represent him, court records show. Heise also entered an order forbidding him from contacting the alleged victim in the case or firearms.

A sheriff's deputy was summoned to a residence on Torrens Trail near Spirit Lake after a weapons offense was reported shortly after 5 p.m. The alleged victim said Kearl fired a shot from a rifle when he was standing about 15 feet away from him, which she interpreted as an act of aggression, according to a probable cause affidavit.

The alleged victim told the deputy that she had allowed two couples to camp on her property. One of the couples was told to leave after getting into a verbal altercation with the other couple, the affidavit said. The male half of the couple that was told to leave allegedly threatened the male half of the couple that was allowed to stay.

The trespassed couple returned to the property, but were accompanied by two other men that included Kearl.

The alleged victim said she ordered the group to leave. Kearl was allegedly pacing with a rifle when he glared at the alleged victim and fired a rifle shot into a rocky hillside, the affidavit said. Kearl was later arrested during a traffic stop at U.S. Highway 95 and Dufort Road.