WINFIELD TWP — A badly intoxicated homeowner is accused of pointing a loaded rifle at two troopers.

The tense standoff began late Sunday night after police were called to the suspect’s house on the 300 block of Star Grille Road in Winfield Township for a burglar alarm. No one was injured.

Richard W. Gniewkowski, 53, was arrested but not before police drew their service pistols and later used their cruiser’s PA system to convince him to surrender.

Gniewkowski, who is facing felony assault and other charges, is in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail.

A pair of uniformed patrol troopers — David Thompson and Robert Gambone — were called to the defendant’s home for an activated burglar alarm.

“The alarm had been malfunctioning all day,” Trooper James Long said this morning.

Earlier that day, police had been called to the same house for a reported domestic disturbance. Long described the dispute as a “verbal argument” and no charges were filed.

The officers in responding to the alarm that night checked the house. Gambone eventually knocked on the front door

Thompson looked through a separate sliding glass door. There, according to a police report, he saw a man, later identified as Gniewkowski, “pointing a black rifle directly at him through the glass door.”

Both troopers unholstered their pistols and identified themselves as police officers. They ordered the man to drop his gun.

Gniewkowski, however, refused. Instead, the report said, he responded with profanity.

The troopers continuously repeated their commands while taking “evasive measures,” police said.

While Gambone was taking cover, Gniewkowski allegedly tracked him with the rifle, according to Long.

Thompson made it back to the cruiser and activated the siren and emergency lights.

He then utilized the PA system, the report said, instructing the suspect to “drop the weapon and come out of the residence with his hands up.”

A short time later, police said, he emerged from the back door, hands up, and was handcuffed. The troopers noted that he was “severely impaired” on drugs and had “difficulty forming coherent sentences.

Police seized the defendant’s semi-automatic rifle — an AR-15 that was found to be loaded with the safety in the off position.

District Judge Kevin O’Donnell arraigned Gniewkowski on two counts each of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, simple assault and disorderly conduct.

The defendant’s preliminary hearing is set for April 19 at the office of District Judge Sue Haggerty in Saxonburg.