WASILLA -- A gun-brandishing driver involved in a road-rage incident in downtown Wasilla on Wednesday was stopped by Wasilla police officers, weapons drawn, at a Tesoro gas station just outside city limits.

No charges were filed.

Huh?

"It's kind of interesting," said Wasilla police officer Rick Manrique. "It's also appropriate."

Manrique said the man's actions fell into the category of self-defense. No one was injured, he said, describing the whole road-rage encounter, in a word, as "stupidity." Under a new city policy, he couldn't name either man involved.

Everything started with a heated argument at the crowded intersection of the Parks Highway and Main Street just before 3 p.m., police said.

One man -- the 24-year-old with the 10-millimeter Glock -- thought the other man was tailgating him, Manrique said. The other guy, who had his two children in the car and was apparently responding to an emergency call from his wife, got out of his car and started yelling, telling the first driver he was going to beat him up.

"He felt in fear," the officer said of the 24-year-old. "He showed him he had a handgun. Told him he was going to use the handgun and stick it up his you-know-what."

The alleged tailgater called police, saying he'd just been assaulted by a guy with a gun. Both men left the scene.

Police spent the next 15 minutes looking for the guy with the gun, until Manrique spotted his car at the Tesoro station at Palmer-Wasilla Highway and Seward-Meridian Parkway. While the 24-year-old went into the station to pre-pay for gas, Manrique called for backup. He got four units. When the man emerged, the pistol stuck in the waistband of his pants, he was greeted by police, weapons drawn, yelling at him to get on the ground.

Shei Smith, a clerk at Tesoro, said she saw five officers outside. Smith told customers to stay inside. She didn't sound too excited about the whole thing, though. It was over fast.

Everything ended quietly, Manrique said. The man offered no resistance, gave up his weapon, and told his side of the story at the police station.

If there's a moral here, the officer said, it's to call police on yourself if you happen to use a weapon during an altercation and don't want police tracking you down in similar fashion.

Better yet, he said, don't get sucked into a road-rage confrontation in the first place.