Woman carjacked at gunpoint near Hot Springs

Jamie Doran, Valley Press

An attempted carjacking near Hot Springs on Highway 28 Monday morning left one woman shaken, but relieved to be safe and sound.

Geri Larson was on her way to work at Evergreen Hot Springs when she saw a car off the side of the road near about a mile east of the Y Quik Stop. Larson said that the lights on the car were blinking and there was a man standing out in the middle of the road waving his arms.

"I pulled over to help him," Larson said. "He asked me where I was going, he told me to 'get out of the f'n car' and then pulled a gun and had it six inches away from my head."

Some people might've froze in such an unreal situation, but Larson kept her cool and stepped on the gas to get away from the would-be-carjacker.

"I expected the gun to go off when I was driving away, but nothing happened," she said. "So that was a huge relief."

Larson called 911 immediately after she got to Evergreen. After calling 911, she learned the Hot Springs police had responded to the scene and were holding two men.

"I didn't see the second man, and that's probably a good thing," she said.

The two were then handed over to the Sanders County Sheriff's Department and transported to the Sanders County Courthouse for arraignment.

Sanders County Undersheriff Rube Wrightsman said that they did originally arrest two men, but one of them hasn't been charged. He was turned over to tribal police, who handle misdemeanor charges for tribal members.

The other individual, a 17-year-old male from Dixon, had his initial appearance in court Monday and was charged with two counts of armed robbery.

Wrightsman said that there were two attempted carjackings with a pistol.

"The two were intoxicated and their car quit running about a mile from the Y Quik Stop at around 3 or 4 in the morning," Wrightsman said. "They were trying to flag down cars standing in the middle of the road."

Wrightsman said he isn't sure how many cars stopped, but the suspect allegedly threatened the female drivers in two cars with a pistol. He said both woman sped off without being fired at.