‘Kindness of America’ hitchhiker shot himself

Ray Dolin, the man who claimed that he was the victim of a drive-by shooting in rural Montana, admitted that he shot himself, Montana authorities said on Friday, according to the Associated Press.

Dolin, who said he was writing a memoir called "Kindness of America," claimed he was shot when he approached a pickup truck last week.

The West Virginia native acknowledged on Thursday night that he shot himself in a "desperate act of self-promotion," said the AP.

Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier said on Thursday that the suspect the police had picked up, Lloyd Christopher Danielson III, had "nothing to do with the shooting," according to the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

More on GlobalPost: Hitchhiker writing 'Kindness' memoir shot by motorist

Danielson had been arrested on Saturday about four hours after the shooting and 100 miles away.

Many news outlets reported about the rich-in-irony story of a man writing about the "Kindness of America" getting shot.

It remains to be seen whether Dolin will face charges, said USA Today.

The Daily Mail noted that Dolin runs a photography business called OneShot Impressions, which has a logo with the cross-hairs of a rifle scope. Some dramatic foreshadowing perhaps.

This is the second hoax of the day after the "forest boy" who claimed to live in the woods for five years and wandered into Berlin nine months ago turned out to be a Dutch runaway, only gone for a few days.