Man fired gun in North Bellmore parking lot during dispute, police say

A North Bellmore man was arrested after pointing a gun at a woman and her 6-year-old son in a 7-Eleven parking lot and firing it into the air, police said.

Michael Ripert, 21, got into a dispute with the 26-year-old woman at 1714 Newbridge Rd. in North Bellmore about 11 p.m. Tuesday, Nassau County police said in a news release Friday. The woman called 911 after Ripert pointed a gun at them, and while she was on the phone, he pointed it up and fired it twice into the air. 

No injuries were reported and Ripert fled in a black BMW, police said. Police investigated and arrested Ripert a few hours later on Wednesday in connection with the incident.

Police said they removed an AK-47 assault rifle, 171 rounds, four large capacity magazines, a loaded pistol grip shotgun and a Glock handgun speed loader from his Pea Pond Road residence. 

A loaded large-capacity 9-mm Glock handgun, a box of rounds, two Glock extended magazines and another AK-47 extended magazine were recovered "at an undisclosed location," police said.

Police said they also determined that Ripert was responsible for firing a gun multiple times on Montgomery Street in Wantagh at about 1 a.m. on Oct. 28.

Ripert was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of criminal possession of a firearm, two counts of reckless endangerment, second-degree menacing, third-degree endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

He was ordered held on $500,000 bond or $250,000 cash at his arraignment Thursday at First District Court in Hempstead. He was represented by attorney Steven Frank Christiansen of Hempstead.