CASPER — The off-duty Casper police officer who in August threatened to shoot Natrona County Sheriff’s Office deputies and fired at them through his apartment window will face six felony charges in Natrona District Court .

Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen confirmed that Michael Hughes waived his preliminary hearing on the charges in Casper Circuit Court on Thursday.

A court document filed Thursday shows Hughes was bound over to district court ahead of his Nov. 19 preliminary hearing.

A call to Hughes’ Casper attorney, Trevor Schenk, was not returned by the time this story was posted.

The Standoff

Hughes, 30, he had drunk a lot on Aug. 22 before getting into a standoff with deputies at his Quail Run apartment in Casper that lasted much of the day on Aug. 23. The incident caused the evacuation of other residents of the apartment.

During the 17-hour standoff, he put two bullets into the ceiling and the apartment above him and “threatened to shoot anyone who came through the door,” according to court documents.

His arrest affidavit stated that when the special response team flew a drone through a broken window of the apartment, Hughes plucked it out of the air, bent the propellers and threw it back out the window.

On another occasion, when the team tried to open the curtains using rods and standing behind ballistic shields, Hughes “fired a shot with a handgun directly through the window next to which the tactical team was positioned,” the statement said.

Hughes is charged with five counts of aggravated assault and battery for threatening responding officers, destruction of property valued at more than $1,000 and felony reckless endangerment for shooting into the apartment above him .

Casper Police Department spokeswoman Amber Freestone said Hughes is no longer employed by the department.

Each aggravated assault and battery charge and the destruction of property valued at more than $1,000 carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, or both. The reckless endangerment charge carries a potential sentence of up to a year in prison.

Dale Killingbeck can be contacted at [email protected].