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Valley County Sheriff discusses hitchhiker who shot himself

Posted: Jun 18, 2012 12:57 PM by Jen Hollenbach - MTN News
Updated: Jun 18, 2012 12:57 PM

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GLASGOW- MTN reporter Jen Hollenbach is in Glasgow and interviewed Valley County Sheriff Glenn Meier about Ray Dolin, the West Virginia hitchhiker who claimed that he had been shot along the Hi-Line by a stranger in a pickup truck.

Dolin, 39, claimed that he was hitchhiking along Highway 2 west of Glasgow on Saturday, June 9, when the driver of a pickup truck pulled over and shot him in the arm and then drove away.

Authorities later arrested and charged Lloyd Christopher Danielson III, 52, for the incident; Danielson was arrested near Culbertson. On Thursday, June 14, Danielson was cleared of any involvement in the shooting.

On Friday, June 15, Sheriff Meier revealed that Dolin had confessed that he had actually shot himself and during Monday's interview, Meier said that Dolin bought the gun in West Virginia on June 4th.

Dolin then got on a bus and came to Sidney in eastern Montana. Meier says after that Dolin got up to Highway 2 along the Hi-Line and hitchhiked to Glasgow.

Meier added that as Dolin was walking toward the rest area near Glasgow, he disposed of all the extra bullets and the box they came in.

Meier believes that Dolin came to the area specifically to "perpetrate this hoax" in order to promote the book that Dolin says he is writing, called "The Kindness of America."

While Dolin was in a recuperating from his self-inflicted gunshot wound at the hospital in Miles City, a FBI agent and two Sheriff's deputies from Valley County confronted him and stated that they knew he had purchased the gun, and that he had shot himself.

Meier says that upon being confronted, Dolin "completely come apart" and broke down and cried, confessing what he had done.

Meier said that Dolin did not specifically admit to having shot himself in order to help promote his book, but did admit to shooting himself.

Meier was quick to point out that Glasgow and the surrounding community is full of kind people, and that people's feelings have been hurt by Dolin's actions.

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