SWAT team called after camper jumps in river to escape man wielding gun near Swan Falls
A frightened man was forced to swim to safety late Sunday night after someone allegedly pointed a gun at him while he was camping near the Swan Falls Dam south of Kuna.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office said it arrested 66-year-old Mark Allen from Garden City early Monday morning and charged him with aggravated assault.
A camper told deputies that he went to check on Allen after watching him take a fall just north of the dam. Allen then reportedly pulled a gun out and pointed it at the camper.
Scared that he may get shot, the camper told authorities he jumped off a rock ledge into the Snake River to escape him and swam to the dam area, where he was able to swim to shore and call 911.
When deputies arrived shortly before 10:30 p.m., they heard gunshots fired nearby. The sheriff’s office said because the shooting occurred in “the dispersed camping and totally dark recreation area north of the dam,” they decided to call in the Ada County Sheriff’s Office SWAT unit.
Members of the SWAT unit located Allen after conducting a ground search with an aerial drone. The sheriff’s office said he “surrendered without further incident” at about 2 a.m. when they found him and he “appeared intoxicated.”
Allen received a medical evaluation and was being held in the Ada County Jail in Boise as of Monday afternoon.
