Police detain gunman firing near popular hiking trail

COALVILLE — An 18-year-old man was being questioned Tuesday by police after hikers say he fired several rounds from a hunting rifle and acted strangely.

About 11:30 a.m., concerned citizens in the parking lot at the trailhead of Bald Mountain, along the Mirror Lake Highway, called police to report a "distraught male walking around the parking lot screaming and yelling," said Summit County Sheriff's Lt. John Lange.

The man then fired some rounds into the woods — apparently at random — but didn't hit anyone, Lange said.

The man walked uphill to an elevated spot overlooking at the parking lot and sat down. At that point, the sheriff's office called out its SWAT team, Lange said.

A Boy Scout troop that was hiking in the area and heading straight for the man with the gun had to be diverted, he said.

After about two hours of trying to reach the man,  the sheriff's office used a public address system to contact him and told him to throw his gun away from him.

The man was compliant and taken into custody for questioning. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, he had not been arrested.

— Pat Reavy

Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam