MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man is accused of assaulting his female roommate and threatening to shoot the woman and her friend.

Grant County prosecutors charged Nicholas Herbert, 21, of Moses Lake, with two counts of second-degree assault (deadly weapon) in Grant County Superior Court.

On Nov. 15 Herbert contacted MACC Dispatch stating his female roommate was hitting him and he was outside their Viewmont Drive Southeast residence in Moses Lake. As a deputy was responding, MACC Dispatch received a call from a woman who stated her roommate, Herbert, had assaulted her and she was hiding from him in their Viewmont Drive residence. The woman further advised Herbert had placed a gun at the end of the driveway before deputies arrived, according to police records.

When the deputy arrived at the scene Herbert was reportedly standing in the driveway with a paper towel sticking out of his nose. The responding deputy picked up a pistol at the end of the driveway and placed it into safekeeping.

Herbert told the deputy his roommate had friends over to their house and they began to argue over differing political views. He said he asked a man to leave and his roommate got upset and they started to argue. He claimed his roommate punched him and gave him a bloody nose. Herbert’s roommate told the deputy one of her friends scratched some fingernail polish off of one of her fingernails and Herbert told the man not to touch her like that and they exchanged words.

“During the exchange of words, Nicholas Herbert pointed a gun at (his roommate’s male friend) and told him to get out of the house,” wrote a deputy.

Herbert reportedly got into a physical altercation with the woman and allegedly pushed her onto the ground and put his hands around her neck. The woman’s friend claimed Herbert was poking and bothering the woman, so he told him to leave her alone. He said Herbert grabbed his pistol, put a magazine into it and “racked a round” into the chamber before pointing the gun at him.

Herbert claimed the two alleged victims were conspiring against him and would make up a story about him pointing a gun at them.

“Nicholas Herbert did not provide much detail while speaking with me and just said he would never hit a woman or point a gun at anyone,” wrote a deputy.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.