This time, it wasn’t a joke.

Shane Patterson Roe was 24 in 2008 when he pulled a gun on a Taco John’s employee and demanded free food. The gun turned out to be an air pistol and no one was harmed, but the prank and a theft charge landed him behind bars, despite the fact he said it was a joke.

Since then Roe, now 36 years old, has been convicted of writing bad checks, possession of methamphetamine, witness tampering and the assault of a partner or family member between 2012 and 2018. In a 2013 case, a charge of assault with a weapon against Roe was dropped when he agreed to plead guilty to possessing methamphetamine.

The incident allegedly dealt with a woman who said Roe had cut her finger to the bone.

Roe, who is scheduled to appear in court April 1, is now facing charges in two separate incidents that occurred in the span of a week in late 2019.

In the first incident, on Nov. 29, 2019, Roe is accused of threatening two convenience store employees with a handgun.

According to a charging document, Roe allegedly pulled a gun from his waistband, pulled the slide back to chamber a round and told one of the workers, “Watch out, I’m going to get you.”

When a Kalispell Police Department detective watched surveillance video from the store, she identified another man, Angelo Gowdy, who was with Roe. Gowdy’s probation officer from Shelby identified Roe after seeing the footage.

Later, when the detective interviewed Roe in the Flathead County Detention Center, he allegedly admitted to being agitated when asked to leave the store by the clerk.

When interviewed by the detective, Gowdy said Roe “flashed his gun” when he was asked to leave.

Before Roe was jailed for the alleged convenience store assault, authorities say he was involved in another incident on Dec. 5, 2019.

It began when deputies were called to an area near the Rainbow Bar in Evergreen. Two men spoke with officers and said they had gone to a Plentywood Drive residence to look for a woman who was their sister and daughter-in-law, respectively.

When the men arrived at the residence, one of the men saw his daughter-in-law lying in a truck in the driveway. The other man knocked on the door and Roe answered. Roe allegedly said the woman wasn’t at the residence and told him to leave.

The man then saw the other man and the woman talking. That’s when Roe allegedly walked toward the trio, brandishing two pistols and said “I’ll kill you; you get out of here now.”

Both men left and when officers arrived, Roe had left. He was soon found and arrested by Kalispell Police Department officers.

In the complaint against Roe, Flathead Deputy County Attorney Alison Howard reported Roe recently was paroled from the Montana State Prison. He is on parole until Jan. 18, 2025, and on probation until Jan. 16, 2033.

Reporter Scott Shindledecker may be reached at 758-4441 or sshindledecker@dailyinterlake.com.