A man accused of sticking the muzzle of a .45-caliber handgun into the belly of another man at noon in a Coeur d’Alene parking lot after being addressed with a racial slur is in jail facing aggravated assault charges.

William C. Kitchen, 32, is being held on $50,000 bail after being charged Friday with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm.

Because Kitchen, who is from Tacoma, has several prior felony convictions in Washington, prosecutors also charged him as a habitual offender, which means any penalty could be compounded.

Police said Kitchen and his fiancée, Jordan Moffett, were driving at noon in the Michaels parking lot at 225 W. Canfield Ave. in a silver Mercedes Benz when a white SUV driven by Garth Hannah pulled in front of them, cutting them off.

A verbal argument ensued and Hannah flipped off Kitchen and Moffett, police reported.

Police said Kitchen flashed a handgun, and Hannah told Kitchen he would “beat his black ass” if Kitchen wasn’t armed.

Hannah told police that Kitchen then stuck the barrel of the firearm into Hannah’s belly.

As the two men yelled at each other, a red pickup driven by Raymond Rhodes approached. Rhodes told both men to settle down and act like adults. When Rhodes called Kitchen a “boy,” Kitchen became enraged, jacked a shell into the pistol’s chamber and pointed it at Rhodes, warning him to not address him that way, police said.

Rhodes told police “this made him fear for his life, and (Rhodes) thought William was going to kill him,” according to a report.

At Friday’s hearing, defense attorney Jed Nixon told the court that “there are obviously two sides to every story.”

It was his understanding, Nixon said, that Kitchen “was not the initial aggressor in this incident.”

Nixon said that despite Kitchen’s felony record, he had been clean for more than a decade, has a son and owns a fitness business in the Seattle area.

Kitchen was in Coeur d’Alene visiting Moffett’s family, Nixon said. Nixon countered the prosecutor’s request for a $75,000 bond with his own, asking for a $15,000 bail amount.

Magistrate Robert Caldwell said despite Kitchen’s prior convictions being 12 years old — they include burglary, having a stolen vehicle, possession of stolen property and taking a vehicle without consent — the old charges combined with the latest charges were concerning enough to set a nominal bond amount.

“These charges are significant,” Caldwell said.

Kitchen’s next hearing will be within 14 days in Coeur d’Alene’s First District Court.