Christopher A. Gauthier. Image courtesy of the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.
A Boise, Idaho man appeared in Ada County Magistrate Court Monday after threatening to kill his Black neighbor, scaring the man’s daughters and stealing his car keys.
According to the Idaho Statesman, 38-year-old Christopher A. Gauthier was arrested without incident and taken to the Ada County Jail Friday morning after he came out of his residence wielding two large kitchen knives and threatening to physically harm his neighbor.
“You threatened to cause injury to him while holding two knives and indicating that you were going to ‘cut some N——,’ Magistrate Daniel Steckel said as he read from the complaint filed against Gauthier during his arraignment Monday afternoon.
The complaint went on to state that once at the county jail, the Idaho man became angry and used the racial slur again, telling corrections officers he wanted to kill his neighbor.
That Friday morning, the victim — who was identified only by the initials AOR — loaded his two daughters into his car and then when back into the house to retrieve an item he had forgotten, the Idaho Statesman reports. As he returned to his car, the man said he saw his daughters running toward him, crying.
The man told police that his daughters told him Gauthier had approached the vehicle while they were inside, made a “scary face,” turned off the engine and ran off with the car keys.
Officers from the Boise Police Department arrived at the scene but were unable to get the Idaho man to open his apartment door, a police report states. The victim yelled at the man to return his car keys later that morning, after which Gauthier came out and threatened to kill him, according to police.
Authorities returned to the scene and took Gauthier into custody.
The Boise man maintained he didn’t have his neighbor’s car keys, but police obtained a warrant to search his apartment — where they found the keys.
Per the Idaho Statesman, Gauthier was charged with two felonies: malicious harassment and burglary. Bail was set at $200,000.
He is due back in court Oct. 28 for a preliminary hearing, the publication reports.
