Argument over music preceded standoff, court docs say

The man arrested following a standoff in Kalispell over the weekend allegedly racked and leveled a shotgun at his girlfriend when she asked him to lower the volume of his music.

“Ask me to turn down the music again,” Nathaniel Everett Wood, 31, told his significant other with the gun pointed at her head just after midnight March 17, according to court documents.

Prosecutors on Monday filed a felony assault with a weapon charge against Wood as well as one count of misdemeanor obstructing a peace officer. Held in the county jail with bail set at $75,000, Wood is expected to appear before Judge Heidi Ulbricht on March 21 for his arraignment in Flathead County District Court. 

Wood’s alleged threat came after his girlfriend put her two young children to bed for the night, court documents said. She told investigators she believed Wood meant to harm her. 

Following the threat, she got hold of the shotgun, tossed it into the yard, called 911 and fled outside, court documents said. 

Kalispell Police officers used both a phone and a public address system to inform Wood that he was under arrest and instruct him to leave the home. A SWAT team arrived after Wood refused, court documents said. 

After retrieving the children from the home, the SWAT team used non-lethal means to force Wood out of the house, according to court documents. 

Investigators later recovered an AR-15-style rifle and pump shotgun from the area, court documents said. 

Assault with a weapon is punishable by up to 20 years in Montana State Prison and a $50,000 fine. Misdemeanor obstructing a peace officer comes with a maximum penalty of six months in county jail and a $500 fine.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.