SEMINOLE, Fla. (WFLA) – A Florida man was charged with four counts of aggravated assault after deputies say he threatened construction workers with a laser-equipped handgun during a dispute about dog feces.

At 8:20 a.m. on Thursday, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a call about an armed person at the intersection of 109th Avenue and County Road 296.

When deputies arrived, four contracted road workers employed by Traffic Control Devices Inc., told deputies they were working on the side of the roadway when an older man in a Ford Explorer drove up to them and got out of his vehicle.

The road workers told deputies that the man pulled out a black handgun with a laser pointer and pointed the laser at the workers’ heads, threatening to shoot them with the gun. The workers took cover behind their vehicles and called 911. The man then drove away in his vehicle.

Deputies say the man was upset because one of the contract workers confronted the suspect’s wife a few minutes prior, for not picking up her dogs waste after her dog defecated in a nearby field.

Deputies searched the area and later found the suspect, 79-year-old Nicholas Belmonte, at his home located at 11622 Tradewinds Boulevard North, in Largo.

Deputies took the laser-equipped .32-caliber handgun that was still in Belmonte’s possession. Deputies say Belmonte admitted to the allegations claiming that he was trying to intimidate and scare the workers for upsetting his wife.

Belmonte was arrested and charged with four counts of aggravated assault.