‘Country Guy’ With Knife Allegedly Causes Strife in West Des Moines

West Des Moines police took a pair of reports last weekend about a “country guy” who allegedly cut the tires on a stranger’s parked car in one incident and intimidated a couple by showing a knife in another.

The incidents allegedly occurred late Saturday in the West Glen Town Center.

A 22-year-old Ames man told Officer Chris Morgan saw a man walking around a parking lot as he and his friend looked for a parking space, but didn’t think much about it until the suspect approached his vehicle.

“The next thing he knew the male opened his car door and was standing in the door opening,” Morgan wrote.

The suspect reportedly didn’t respond and remained at the door. The driver of the vehicle said he grabbed the suspect’s right hand, pulled himself out of the car and then pushed back a little. That’s when he realized the man was holding a folding-style knife with a black blade in his right hand, according ot the report.

He said he then let the male go and stepped back. The man reportedly then took off running to the west.

The witness said he’d never seen the man before and he had no idea what the encounter was all about.

The suspect was described as wearing a light green and tan camouflage ball cap, a maroon sweatshirt with gold “Iowa State” letters trimmed in white and light-colored jeans. He had blond hair and was described by the witness as  “a country guy,” according to the report.

On the same night, police took a report from a witness who said he was watching a man matching that description slash tires on a vehicle parked in the area. The suspect was described as “a country guy” wearing a red Iowa State hoodie, blue jeans and cowboy boots.

The suspect was gone when police arrived. Police located a suspect in one of the bars who matched that description and detained him inside one of the bars in the district, but the witness said he wasn’t the right individual.

The witness “took it on himself” to look for the suspect inside the bar, located him and made eye contact, then fled the area again, according to Officer Ben Woods report.