By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man accused of pointing a loaded gun at a man in the Walmart parking lot at 111 N. Perkins Road and punching him in the face has been jailed on $40,000 bail pending a May 2 court appearance.
Ashantz Taevon Dirks, 21, was arrested about 45 minutes later at 6th and Jardot in a car he was driving without a license, Stillwater Police Officer William Cluck wrote in an affidavit.
Dirks, who has also been known as Ashante Rayshawn Jones, could be incarcerated for as long as 10 years plus four months if convicted of feloniously pointing a loaded semi-automatic pistol at the man, punching him in the face, and driving without a valid license, court records show.
The victim was bleeding from the mouth and had a swollen eye when police arrived at 1:01 pm on March 31, an affidavit said.
Several witnesses said that four individuals assaulted the man and then fled in a red Toyota; one witness said Dirks pointed a handgun at the man, the affidavit alleged.
Three Stillwater police officers located the suspect’s vehicle at 6th and Jardot, where a felony traffic stop was conducted, the affidavit alleged.
One witness had video that showed Dirks hitting the man before two females with Dirks started hitting and kicking the man on the ground, the affidavit alleged.
“A semi-automatic handgun was located in the vehicle Dirks was driving,” the affidavit alleged.
One of the passengers said Dirks did pull the gun out and point it at the man before a physical fight started, the affidavit alleged.
During a jail interview, Dirks admitted that he did hit the man first, but denied pulling or pointing a gun at him, the affidavit alleged.
“Dirks said that he may have had the gun in his hand, but he was putting it down because he doesn’t shoot people; he just fights with them,” the affidavit alleged.
