The boyfriend of a St. Paul restaurant owner fired a gun into the air outside the bar to scare away an unwanted customer, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

No one was injured. Police arrested Shoua Vang, 45, of St. Paul, and the Ramsey County attorney’s office charged him with felony possession of a pistol without a permit.

Police were called to Pupraya Thai, 945 Rice St., at 1:34 a.m. Sunday. A caller reported the owner’s boyfriend had fired a gun in the air outside, the complaint said.

Officers saw a man “look out the window and appear to be nervous about the presence of the police,” the complaint said. “He turned and walked quickly toward the kitchen door in the opposite corner of the bar. An officer noticed a small-caliber shell casing laying on the sidewalk near the door.”

Police found the man, identified as Shoua Vang, in the cooler in the kitchen. He told police he had hid the gun in the cooler, and police found a .25-caliber gun on a shelf under a box.

Shoua Vang told police he had held the gun straight up in the air and fired it to get an unwanted customer to leave the bar. He said he didn’t have a permit to carry a firearm.

He was convicted in 1990 for carrying a weapon without a permit in Hennepin County, and that conviction enhances the current charge to a felony, the complaint said.

The bar has a liquor license that allows it to stay open until 2 a.m., said Robert Humphrey, a spokesman for the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections.

The restaurant has been under its current ownership since August, Humphrey said. DSI is investigating with the city attorney’s office on whether to take adverse action on the establishment’s licenses, he said.

No one answered the phone at the restaurant Monday, and the voicemail box was full.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried.