Jeremy Stutheit said he's unsure what started an altercation that a short time later resulted in him being shot in his left side Sunday night.

The 40-year-old Hauser man said he was leaving Dinki Di's bar in Hauser with his girlfriend when Michael Couture "sucker-punched" him.

"We got kicked out of the bar," Stutheit said on Monday while recovering at Kootenai Health, where he was in good condition. "What's weird is that I don't know why he sucker-punched me."

Stutheit said he and his girlfriend then went to a friend's home in the 11700 block of North Hauser Lake Road near the bar when Couture, 49, Post Falls, arrived.

Stutheit said he went outside and a fight ensued inside Couture's car.

"I started to hit him and, the next thing I knew, I heard the gunshot," said Stutheit, adding that he was hit with a single shot.

Stutheit said he doesn't remember what happened after he was shot and didn't see the gun that Couture allegedly used.

"I was always on top of him in the car," Stutheit said.

Witnesses told law enforcement that Couture drove off after Stutheit exited the vehicle.

"Once on scene, deputies found a male lying on the ground outside the residence with a gunshot wound," a Kootenai County Sheriff's Office press release states.

Medical personnel arrived shortly afterward and transported Stutheit to Kootenai Health.

Stutheit said he has only known Couture about two weeks through a mutual friend. The alleged shooting occurred in the driveway of that friend's home around 9:30 p.m. The friend called 911 about the alleged shooting.

Nearly 15 hours after the alleged shooting, Couture - who law enforcement said is a person of interest in the case but has not been charged with the shooting - was arrested by KCSO detectives in Post Falls on Monday on an unrelated warrant for misdemeanor probation violation.

"KCSO detectives were following up with known associates of Mr. Couture and residences that he may be at when they located his car at the Tullamore apartments in Post Falls," a KCSO press release states. "After a short telephone conversation, Mr. Couture exited an apartment belonging to a friend of his."

KCSO Lt. Stu Miller said detectives are investigating with interviews with Stutheit and Couture and search warrants for Couture's vehicle and the apartment in which he was located.

A message requesting an interview with Couture on Monday afternoon was not returned. Couture has been booked at the local jail seven previous times, including for DUI, battery and probation violation.

Rathdrum's Debbie Bruckman, Stutheit's mother, was at her son's side in the hospital on Monday.

"The doctor said he's lucky to be alive," she said. "The shot shattered two ribs and just missed the spleen."

An investigation continues.