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Details Sketchy After Man Transported From Store With Head Injury

    Rumors swirled in Umatilla on Tuesday night, April 22, that a man had driven to an area convenience store with a gunshot wound.  The man, Dana Waltrip of Altoona, would be airlifted to a hospital with a head wound, but while further investigation revealed the man did not have a gunshot wound, what exactly happened to him remains unclear this week.
    Around 8 p.m. on that night, Umatilla Police Department officers were dispatched to the Circle K convenience store at 391 North Central Avenue regarding an individual with a gunshot wound.  Upon arrival, the victim was not there, but he arrived shortly thereafter.  Described as 'unsteady' and with a wound in the back of his head, Waltrip had driven to the store and told officers he was unsure what had happened to him.  Waltrip said he had previously been at 'the Altoona store' and was driving to the hospital, but had stopped at the Southside Plaza on the south end of Umatilla.  He then turned around and came to the store and met officers and EMS responders.
    After it was suspected his wound was from a gunshot and that there was something protruding from his head, the decision was made to airlift Waltrip to a trauma center. After treatment there, however, it was determined the wound was not from a gunshot.
    Officers responded to both the Altoona Circle K store as well as the Southside Plaza in search of any clues to what may have happened to Waltrip, who was not willing to answer questions about the incident.