TERRIFIED eyewitnesses watched as a man pulled an air rifle out of a bag and pointed it at another man’s chest during an argument in a York street.

Tristan Adrian Cross then fired the gun into the sky after the second man fled in panic.

Cross was on a conditional discharge at the time for making a Nazi salute and racist remarks during a 15-minute rant in a pub and on bail for grabbing his then partner by the throat and punching her in the face.

Cross, who suffered from psychosis and depression, was jailed for 21 months for the firearm offence, which took place outside Chubbies takeaway in Hull Road in June last year.

Julia Harrow, prosecuting, said onlookers witnessed Cross pull the rifle from a bag, assemble and cock it, before pointing it at the other man’s chest, who then ran into the takeway. Outside, Cross put the gun on his shoulder and in the entrance of a nearby alleyway fired it upwards.

Cross’s barrister, Glenn Parsons, said his client had spent the day drinking and watching Army and military programmes on the television before going out.

He had taken the gun with him because he had believed England was under attack. He suffered from psychosis and depression, but had not taken his medication, the court was told.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, said: “Anyone, whatever their condition, who chooses in drink to take out a weapon and threaten people in public must expect to lose their liberty.” He said Cross’s behaviour was “dramatic and bizarre” and the argument before Cross got his rifle out had been over “something or nothing”.

Cross, 39, of Sixth Avenue, Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence in others.

Miss Harrow said the eyewitnesses heard Cross and another man exchange words over a £10 note shortly after midnight on June 1, 2011.

Then they saw Cross pull out the gun. Police later found pellets in the bag.

Cross told them he did not know if the gun was loaded when he fired it. A police firearms expert said it was possible for the gun to make a loud noise if it only discharged air.

Mr Parsons said Cross was very lonely and isolated but people were standing by him and he had not reoffended since the incident.

Two doctors agreed he did not qualify for a hospital order under the Mental Health Act.