An Ocosta man was arrested on Friday after a standoff with sheriff’s deputies after a roommate reported that the man had shot a pellet gun at him and threatened to kill him.

Travis Allen Lester, 56, was arrested Friday afternoon on a third-degree assault charge and is currently in custody in the county jail.

The call came in at 8:03 a.m. on Friday after Lester had shot the pellet gun at the roommate and another woman at a range of about 15 feet, missing both, said Chief Criminal Deputy Jason Wecker in an interview. The roommate walked to a neighbor’s house and asked the neighbors to call 911.

Deputies arrived on scene at 8:23 a.m. in Ocosta, Wecker said, with four deputies responding initially.

“They tried to make contact with him inside the house,” Wecker said. “He was just ignoring them.”

Attempts to communicate with Lester were ultimately fruitless, Wecker said, and members of the county’s crisis response unit got a warrant in the early afternoon and went in, deploying a vaporous form of pepper spray into Lester’s room, inducing him to come out.

“A few minutes later he came out and we arrested him without incident,” Wecker said. “We did all we could do to end it as peacefully as possible.”

Lester had been known in the past to possess firearms and archery equipment, Wecker said, but none was located when officers searched the residence besides the pellet gun.

No injuries were reported during the incident, Wecker said.

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.