Jarrod Christensen

Authorities allege a Powell man drew a gun and threatened to kill his girlfriend during a weekend argument.

Jarrod N. Christensen, 46, faces a felony count of aggravated assault and battery in connection with the incident, which occurred shortly after midnight Sunday morning. As of Wednesday, he remained in the Park County Detention Center with bond set at $30,000, cash or surety.

Christensen’s girlfriend told Powell police that they’d argued and talked about ending their long-term relationship. She said Christensen was intoxicated and extremely upset, recalling that he said, “If you don’t get out of my house, I’m going to f—ng kill you.”

She later went to the bathroom and she said Christensen followed her — bringing along a silver, long-barreled revolver. Christensen never pointed the gun at her, the woman told police, but said he was going to kill her.

According to Powell Police Officer Caleb Schmidt’s recounting of the woman’s report, Christensen eventually put the gun on the counter and left the bathroom. The woman then ran out of the house and called 911, telling officers she thought Christensen was going to get another gun.

“[The woman] said she was scared and thought Christensen was going to kill her or she never would have called the police,” Schmidt wrote in a charging affidavit.

Officers were dispatched to Christensen’s Mountain View Street home at 12:11 a.m., and they found the woman in the alley. She wasn’t dressed for the 16-degree weather, the affidavit says, and was holding the revolver “with her thumb and index finger, away from her body, as if she was afraid to be holding it,” Schmidt wrote. She gave the gun to the officer, who observed that “the hammer was locked to the rear and it was ready to be fired.”

When police questioned Christensen, he gave a different version of events, saying he had “absolutely not” made any threats against his girlfriend.

According to Schmidt’s summary, Christensen admitted to having the gun, but said the comments he’d made about killing referred to the couple’s aging pets. Christensen isn’t at home enough to take care of the pets, he reportedly explained to Schmidt, so if the couple was breaking up, “they might as well shoot the animals.”

When officers followed up with the woman, she acknowledged that Christensen talked about shooting the pets. However, the affidavit says she recalled Christensen saying “he was going to kill the animals first and then he was going to kill her.”

Christensen was arrested around 12:30 a.m. Sunday and made his initial appearance in Park County Circuit Court on Monday.

A preliminary hearing, to determine if there’s enough for the case to proceed toward a trial in Park County District Court, is tentatively set for Feb. 20. Christensen’s bond was originally set at $100,000, but was lowered to $30,000 on Wednesday by stipulation.