Alleged victim: Gun report was a lie

POST FALLS - A 20-year-old Rathdrum man who told police late Monday that a male stranger with a pistol was hiding in the back seat of his truck admitted to detectives on Tuesday that the suspect didn't have a gun after all.

Law enforcement from three agencies, including Post Falls Police, Idaho State Police and the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office, swarmed to a Rathdrum Prairie location after the alleged heist was reported.

"There were about 10 units out looking for the suspect," Post Falls police Capt. Greg McLean said.

McLean said the alleged victim told detectives on Tuesday that the rest of his original story, aside from a gun being involved, was true, however.

"He said he just got overexcited when telling officers about the gun," McLean said.

A K-9 unit from the county was also called to Poleline Avenue just east of Highway 41 where the alleged victim told police the suspect demanded to go and be dropped off, but no one was found.

Lt. Stu Miller of the KCSO said the K-9 followed a short track that went out from that location and came back to the same spot.

According to Post Falls Police, the alleged victim had been visiting a friend at a Post Falls home at Third and Greensferry and started to head toward home in Rathdrum when he saw a male described in his mid-20s and wearing a dark-hooded sweatshirt in the back seat of his Chevy Avalanche at 9:46 p.m. The truck had been unlocked.

The alleged victim said he was told by the suspect to head north on Highway 41 from eastbound Seltice Way, McLean said.

The alleged victim told police he never saw the suspect's face and the suspect kept the hood of his sweatshirt over his head.

McLean said the suspect told the driver to turn east onto Poleline Avenue and demanded to be dropped off a few blocks from Highway 41.

The alleged victim told police that the suspect didn't say anything else other than tell the driver not to follow him.

The suspect was last seen heading into a wooded area north of Poleline, the victim told police.

The alleged victim turned around on Poleline and 911 was called from the 41 Express gas station on Highway 41, McLean said. The alleged victim had a cell phone, McLean said.

"He said he wanted to go to some place where there were people and he felt more comfortable," McLean said of why the cell phone wasn't used to call police.

An investigation continues.