LEWISTON – Police were closing in Sunday night on a man suspected of breaking into an elderly couple’s home last week and confronting them with a gun.

“We’re hot on the trail of a suspect,” said police Lt. Donald Mailhot on Sunday evening.

He declined to name the suspect or provide other information about the case pending an arrest. “You can tell people we hope to have a suspect in custody soon,” Mailhot said.

The search for the masked intruder has been ongoing and intensive since the case broke.

The couple, who are in their 70s, returned to their Stevens Street home from Wal-Mart at about 9 p.m. Wednesday to find the gunman in their living room.

They told investigators the suspect was carrying a revolver and wearing a Lone Ranger-style mask as he ordered them to a back bedroom, where they were told to remain.

Instead, the couple opened a window and leapt about eight feet to the lawn of their home. Then they crept around a garage, ran across the street to safety and called police from a neighbor’s house.

A half-dozen heavily armed police officers entered the house about 10:30 p.m., moving from room to room in a search for the suspect.

None was found, however, and police found few signs that the house had been ransacked. Investigators believe the suspect fled from the house empty-handed, perhaps after learning the couple had escaped.

Some business owners and residents who read about the incident in Thursday’s newspaper got together and decided to do something to help. They pooled their money to offer a reward to anyone with information that would help police in their search.

They raised $2,500 by the end of the day Thursday. On Friday, doctors, nurses and medical supply professionals were mustering their resources to boost the reward higher.