MINOT, N.D. (KXNET) — A 19-year-old Minot man, Lynn Jerauld, was arrested on Saturday after he sprayed pepper spray down a flight of stairs toward a group of people attending a Narcotics Anonymous meeting at the Minot Area Recovery Community Organization (MARCO).

According to the arresting affidavit, Jerauld was attending the meeting on November 1 that had five other individuals in attendance when he got up and walked upstairs to presumably smoke. While he was gone, the five people began coughing and feeling a burning pain in their throats, noses, and eyes, according to the affidavit.

The meeting ended and all individuals evacuated as they thought that there may be a gas or chemical leak in the building.

The following day, one member then remembered that Jerauld never returned after leaving to smoke and decided to check the cameras. According to documents, the cameras showed Jerauld leaving the meeting, going to the top of the stairs, and then shaking a can of what appeared to be pepper spray. Jerauld then pointed the can down the stairs and sprayed several times before leaving the building.

According to the affidavit, the five members then went together to the Minot Police Department on November 4 around 9:22 p.m. and stated that Jerauld had pepper sprayed them.

Police investigated the situation and the camera footage and then made contact with Jerauld who admitted to being in possession of pepper spray but that he was “just testing it out to see if it worked,” according to documents.

Jerauld was then arrested and taken to the Ward County Detention Center where he was charged with Aggravated Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Class C Felony).