AMHERST —A man who assisted Amherst police in getting a gun away from a Lorain man threatening to shoot his wife around midnight Wednesday was nearly shot when an officer mistook him for the assailant, according to police.

The man notified an Amherst police officer who was in downtown area that another man, later identified as Robert Gonzalez, 50, of Lorain, was pointing a gun at a woman outside a downtown business on Church Street.

Another officer on foot also responded to the area, but before he could learn the details of what was happening, the man who first alerted police to the situation ran towards Gonzalez, managed to get the gun away from him, and then ran back towards police pointing the gun in their direction.

The newly arrived officer fired a shot at the man, but missed and hit a street sign instead, police reported.

Police are not releasing the name of the man who assisted them, but he was arrested on an out-standing warrant from another police agency, and additional charges from Amherst police could follow.

The woman, Nawassa Gonzalez, 32, of Lorain, was Gonzalez’s wife and wasn’t harmed during the incident.

Robert Gonzalez was charged with kidnapping, carrying a concealed weapon, carrying a concealed weapon in a liquor establishment, aggravated menacing, domestic violence and criminal damaging.

He is being held in the county jail without bond and the incident remains under investigation.

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