PORTER (AP) – A man accused of firing gunshots toward partygoers before holding police at bay for hours made his initial court appearance Tuesday.

Jesse Leahy, 27, of Porter, is charged with six counts of reckless conduct and two counts of aggravated assault.

He surrendered to police Monday after they lobbed tear gas into his mother’s home in an effort to end a standoff that lasted more than 12 hours.

The incident started Sunday night at a nearby party, said State Police Lt. Theodor Short. Leahy, a convicted felon, was told he was not wanted at the party.

An argument followed and Leahy assaulted a woman, said Chief Deputy Jim Davis of the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department.

Leahy later returned with a handgun, which he used to assault two male partygoers before firing six rounds into the party crowd, police said. No one was injured by the gunshots.

Leahy then went to his mother’s house in a residential neighborhood in the Kezar Falls section of town.

Eventually the Bridge Street house was surrounded by about 20 officers from the State Police tactical unit and about a dozen others from Oxford County and York County sheriff’s departments.

Police had been calling the home’s phone for five hours, but Leahy did not answer, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

At 1 p.m., police decided to use tear gas, and about a dozen canisters were fired into the home. Leahy then answered the phone and left the building a short time later, police said.

Leahy, who has been convicted of armed robbery and similar incidents involving firearms and knives in California, Colorado and Massachusetts, according to authorities, was being held at Oxford County Jail in South Paris on $40,000 cash bail.

Donna Leahy, who left her home after Jesse arrived, was charged with hindering apprehension and obstructing government administration.

AP-ES-07-29-03 1747EDT