SALISBURY — A man was arrested on Saturday after deputies said that they discovered an illegally-modified rifle in his car while serving a warrant for violation of a domestic violence protective order.

The incident began at approximately 10:40 p.m. on Saturday, when a deputy at Sheetz noticed a black Cadillac that he believed to belong to Trent Tyson Waller, who’s warrant for arrest had been the subject of an officer safety briefing that morning due to his training as a retired Navy SEAL, said Captain Mark McDaniel, public information officer for the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.

The deputy then reportedly contacted communications and confirmed that the license plate on the car belonged to Waller. He also saw Waller get out of the car and wave at him, said McDaniel.

The deputy reportedly called for backup to assist with the arrest of Waller and while waiting he reportedly witnessed Waller drive his car through the car wash before parking and getting out to enter the store. When Waller got out of his car, deputies and officers from the Salisbury Police Department surrounded him and arrested him without further incident, said McDaniel.

One of the deputies involved in the arrest looked inside of the Cadillac and noticed a rifle on the passenger-side floorboard leaning against the seat, said McDaniel. The deputies then reportedly searched the car and confiscated the rifle, which they discovered was an assault rifle with a Novesky lower and an illegally-shortened Daniel Defense upper. Because Waller was under a domestic violence protective order, he was not allowed to own any firearms.

Waller was charged with felony purchasing a firearm in violation of a domestic violence protective order, felony possession of a weapon of mass death or destruction, misdemeanor domestic criminal trespassing, misdemeanor breaking or entering and misdemeanor violation of a domestic violence protective order. Waller was transported to the Rowan County Detention Center. He was initially not given a bond due to the domestic nature of some of the charges, but online jail records no longer listed Waller as an inmate as of Tuesday morning.