Police: Knife-wielding man arrested at gunpoint

A transient suspected of threatening three people with a hunting knife in downtown Spokane late Thursday told officers he was upset that his guitar was stolen, police said today. Wilfred Dale Corse, 48, took a fighting stance when police confronted him at 11:37 p.m. near South Maple Street and West Fourth Avenue but dropped the knife when the two officers pulled their guns, Officer Dave Daddato said in a news release. Police had arrived to find Corse confronting a woman and two men with the knife, but Corse does not face assault charges because the victims fled before they were interviewed, Daddato said. Corse said he confronted the three because he believed they stole his guitar or knew its location, police said. Corse has been cited for consuming alcohol in public seven times since August 2006, including citations on May 26, June 17 and June 24, according to Spokane Municipal Court records. He was booked into Spokane County Jail just after midnight Friday on $750 bond for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and a misdemeanor weapons charge.