A Cody man fired several bolts onto the Yellowstone Regional Airport runway last week amid an apparent mental health episode, authorities say. Although airport officials described it as a potentially dangerous situation, the arrows were recovered without any injuries or damage on the morning of Nov. 6.

Cody police arrested the man suspected of firing the bolts, 52-year-old Michael Gambale, on misdemeanor charges of reckless endangering and breach of peace. Gambale, who has pleaded not guilty, remained in Park County Detention Center on Monday with bail set at $50,000.

Yellowstone Regional Airport personnel found four bolts on the runway around 8 a.m. on Nov. 6, according to an affidavit from Cody Police Officer Tom Wilshusen. The airport’s operations supervisor said the sharp-tipped bolts could have punctured an aircraft or tire, injured people or caused a crash, the affidavit says. Four planes reportedly used the runway in the hours before the arrows were discovered, including a United flight carrying about 50 passengers.

“When Gambale fired the bolts onto the [Yellowstone Regional Airport] property, he recklessly engaged in conduct which placed other persons in danger of death or serious bodily injury,” Wilshusen wrote.

Gambale’s residence is just north of the airport and police reportedly found similar bolts near his home and in his backyard; one that wound up on airport property had been shot through a Christmas ornament, Wilshusen wrote.

He said Gambale appeared “erratic and agitated” when police approached. As officers met near his home to figure out their next steps, “we observed Gambale outside his residence playing his trumpet,” Wilshusen wrote. “Gambale was wearing his bathrobe while walking in the street.”

For his own safety and those of his neighbors, officers said they decided to arrest Gambale.

Officers obtained a warrant to search Gambale’s residence after his arrest and, among other items, they found three air bolt guns, two compound bows and a crossbow. The bolt guns were powered by CO2, which can be used as a propellant; one of the bolts found on the runway was roughly 350 yards away from Gambale’s home. 

One of his neighbors later told police that, shortly before midnight that day, she heard five “loud pops” that sounded like gunshots. The woman “stated that she was terrified and crawled through her house to her two daughter’s rooms,” Wilshusen wrote, and the three family members hid in the crawl space.

Police had actually responded to Gambale’s home a bit before 1 a.m. on Nov. 6 — about seven hours before the bolts were discovered — when a neighbor reported he was yelling and banging outside. A responding officer reportedly saw Gambale carrying a bow.

Wilshusen said it was not the first time police had contact with Gambale, mentioning that he’d been placed on a Title 25 hold earlier this year. That process is meant to stabilize the mental health of an individual who has been deemed to pose a danger to themselves or others as a result of mental illness. Gambale has not appeared on the detention center’s online inmate roster since his arrest last week, which suggests he may have been placed under another mental health hold.

A trial in Gambale’s criminal case is tentatively set for April.