An armed man entered a Maui County government building Friday morning and brandished his gun during an argument with county workers, but police were not called for an hour and a half.

Kirill Basin, who had recently announced he planned to run for Congress, was arrested at around 12:30, miles away in Kīhei — where he lives — and charged with Terroristic Threatening in the First Degree.

A spokesperson for the county did not respond to a question about what occurred between the time Basin arrived and when police were called. Chief John Pelletier responded only with a written statement.

“The Maui Police Department will not compromise public safety, and incidents of this nature are taken extremely seriously in Maui County,” Pelletier wrote. “I am extremely proud of the quick response and professionalism displayed by our personnel, which helped ensure a peaceful resolution.”

The incident occurred after Basin appeared to be spiraling.

Two days before his arrest, police escorted him from a South Maui town hall meeting after he was involved in an argument with Council member Tom Cook and members of his staff, police said. 

Shortly after 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon, Cook’s executive assistant, Jared Agtunong filed a petition for a temporary restraining order against Basin. According to the petition, after police had escorted Basin from the town hall, he confronted Agtunong in the parking lot, requiring police to intervene once again. 

That wasn’t the first time Agtunong had come into contact with Basin. According to the restraining order petition, Basin had called Agtunong and sent a series of profane and cryptic texts. 

“I did not answer Basin’s phone call, but he left a message telling me that I’m a piece of trash, said I should think of my family and insisted I call him back,” Agtunong wrote in his petition. “In additional texts sent on the same day, Basin wished me luck with prison then at 9:00 p.m., Basin’s text said ‘you’re fucked.’”

A judge granted Agtunong’s temporary restraining order petition within two hours of when it was filed. 

Court records add details about Basin’s mental state over the last month. He was previously arrested for disorderly conduct on May 2, according to court records, although details on that are sparse. 

On Thursday, Basin filed a lawsuit against Maui County and Pelletier, alleging that he was wrongfully arrested and then subjected to “prolonged and deliberate infliction of physical, sexual and psychological abuse” while in police custody. 

Basin filed the lawsuit himself and is not represented by an attorney, according to court records.

“This is the lawsuit I served today. It basically outlines how 3 police officers tortured me for 14 hours,” Basin said in an Instagram post Friday morning. “That’s the gist. It’ll never happen to anyone again.”