The man accused of firing a pellet gun at a Waterloo Regional Police officer made a court appearance Wednesday – the same day police confirmed that he is considered a person of interest in the region’s most recent homicide.

Eric Amaral, 29, appeared briefly before a judge and was remanded into custody until an Oct. 20 court appearance.

Wearing a grey jacket and blue jeans, he stood straight-faced in the prisoner’s box and looked out over the courtroom – not finding any familiar faces.

He faces charges including assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, possessing a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm, recklessly discharging a firearm, three counts of breaching probation, four counts of breaching a recognizance and six counts of breaching a weapons prohibition.

Those charges are in connection with a shooting incident which sent one police officer to hospital and shut down part of Ottawa Street South for several hours Tuesday.

Speaking to CTV News, family members described the situation as a “nightmare” and said they had been with Amaral only hours before Tuesday’s events.

Police say they consider Amaral one of multiple people of interest in the death of Michael Gibbon, who was shot with an arrow last week.

“Investigators were following that vehicle in an attempt to stop and speak with that man,” Staff Sgt. Mike Haffner said Wednesday.

They had stopped the vehicle and were approaching it when Amaral allegedly pulled out a pellet gun and fired it, hitting one officer in the face and hand.

The officer then returned fire, missing Amaral but hitting his car.

A tow truck that was in the area at the time drove into Amaral’s vehicle, preventing him from driving off, and the 29-year-old Kitchener resident was placed under arrest.

“I just ran into the car to keep him from going any further,” Active Towing driver Al Pinheiro said in an interview.

“Once the gentlemen knew he had nowhere to go … it was pretty well done.”

Although the police officer who was hit with the pellets was taken to hospital, police say his injuries are minor.

He was released from hospital Tuesday and spent Wednesday at home recuperating.

A photograph posted on Amaral’s Facebook page shows him holding a weapon at a gun shop. Family members said they asked Amaral about the photo, and were told that it was “no big deal.”

Pinheiro said that the weapon fired at the officer appeared to be realistic.

“It didn’t look like a pellet gun at all from where I was standing. The officer wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference either,” he said.

Police say Pinheiro played an “instrumental” role in stopping Amaral from driving off, but caution that they would prefer citizens not take actions of that sort.

Several other weapons were found in Amaral's vehicle, police say.