RIDGWAY, July 24 6:57 a.m. – A Ridgway man was arrested on misdemeanor and felony charges Thursday afternoon, July 19, for his actions in an altercation earlier that morning.

Tyler James Hile, 20, of Ridgway, was taken into custody by Marshal D.J. Scott and transported to the Montrose County Jail where he was charged with second degree trespassing, a Class 3 misdemeanor, and menacing, a Class 5 felony, after he allegedly threatened a group of people with a handgun and then later fired a round from the weapon while in the backyard of a residence. He was released on bond the next day.

According to the arrest affidavit, Hile allegedly arrived at a residence early Thursday morning in Ridgway demanding to talk to a specific individual he believed to be there. When he couldn’t find the individual, he went next door, allegedly going upstairs and stating “you better watch your back” to a group of at least five individuals before allegedly pulling a handgun from his back waistband and waving it, according to the affidavit, then going into the backyard, where he allegedly fired one round from the gun. According to Scott, Hile left the residence around 2 a.m.

In the affidavit, Hile stated to Scott he had “gotten into a verbal argument with [a young man] and they were suppose to fight.”

“He did not want to say more after that,” the affidavit read. “He said he did have guns and they were a Rugar P45, which is a .45 caliber pistol; when asked if he pulled the gun, he requested a county-appointed attorney, and all questions were stopped,” the affidavit concluded.

The incident transpired roughly an hour before Wyatt Mangelsen, 19, of Ridgway, was struck by a car driven by 18-year-old Nicole Wage just west of the top of Ridgway Hill on Colorado Hwy. 62. In the arrest affidavit, Mangelsen and Wage were named as two of the individuals present at the residence when Hile allegedly waived the gun.

It was determined by a Colorado State Patrol investigation that Mangelsen was already lying in the road when he was struck by the car at approximately 2:30 a.m. He was pronounced deceased at 3:03 a.m. Wage was charged with only driving on a revoked license in the accident.

Because the alleged altercation and Mangelsen’s death happened roughly an hour apart, Scott said “it’s too early to tell” if there’s any connection between the two incidents and that the “rest of the investigation is being done through [the] county [sheriff] and CSP [Colorado State Patrol].”

Hile’s arrest record also includes a DUI conviction from September of 2006 through the Telluride Marshal’s Department.