Officers continue searching Saturday for the suspected shooter in the mountains west of town
UPDATED AT 12:58 P.M., AUG. 3: The former U.S. soldier suspected of killing four people at a Montana bar was still at large early Sunday and may be armed after escaping in a stolen vehicle containing clothes and camping gear, officials said.
Authorities believe 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown killed four people on Friday morning at The Owl Bar in Anaconda.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said at a press conference Sunday that Brown committed the shooting with a rifle that law enforcement believes was his personal weapon.
The victims ranged in age from 59 to 74 and were a female bartender and three male patrons: 59-year-old Daniel Edwin Baillie, 64-year-old Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 70-year-old David Allen Leach, and 74-year-old Tony Wayne Palm. All four were residents of Anaconda.
Knudsen warned residents in the town of just over 9,000 people that Brown, who lived next door to the bar where he was a regular, could come back to the area.
“This is an unstable individual who walked in and murdered four people in cold blood for no reason whatsoever. So there absolutely is concern for the public,” Knudsen said.
Numerous public events were canceled over the weekend as the search entered its third day, according to local Facebook pages.
Investigators are considering all possible options for Brown’s whereabouts, the attorney general said. That includes searching the woods where Brown hunted and camped while he was a kid. But Knudsen noted that, during peak tourist season in western Montana, some law enforcement officials would have to return to their local jurisdictions for their regular responsibilities.
Brown served in the Army as an armor crewman from 2001 to 2005 and deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005, according to Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, an Army spokesperson. Brown was in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to March 2009, Castro said, and left military service at the rank of sergeant.
Brown’s niece, Clare Boyle, told the AP her uncle has struggled with mental illness for years and she and other family members repeatedly sought help.
“This isn’t just a drunk/high man going wild,” she said in a Facebook message. “It’s a sick man who doesn’t know who he is sometimes and frequently doesn’t know where or when he is either.”
Knudsen said on Sunday that Brown was “known” to local law enforcement before the shooting. It was widely believed that he knew at least some of the victims, given how close he lived to the bar.
Law enforcement released a photograph of Brown from surveillance footage taken shortly after the fatal shootings. He appeared to be barefoot and in minimal clothing.
But law enforcement now believes Brown ditched the vehicle he escaped in and stole a different one that had camping gear, shoes and clothes in it — leaving open the possibility that Brown is now clothed.
The last time that law enforcement saw Brown was on Friday afternoon, but there was “some confusion” because there were multiple white vehicles involved, Knudsen said.
There is a $7,500 reward for any information that leads to Brown’s capture.
“This is still Montana. Montanans know how to take care of themselves. But please, if you have any sightings, call 911,” Knudsen said.
UPDATED AT 12:30 P.M., AUG. 2: Authorities were scouring a mountainous area west of Anaconda on Saturday for a military veteran who they say opened fire at a bar, killing four people.
On Saturday, authorities released a photo of the suspect, barefoot and shirtless, walking down what appeared to be a flight of outdoor concrete steps. The photo showed Brown, wearing black shorts, fleeing after the shooting Friday, according to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Four people are dead after a shooter opened fire at Anaconda’s Owl Bar at approximately 10:30 a.m. Friday. Law enforcement officers were still searching for the suspect, Michael Paul Brown, late into Friday night.
“As of ten o’clock tonight Brown remains at large. Law enforcement has located the white Ford F-150 that Brown fled the scene in. However, Brown was not located in or around the vehicle. Authorities are now focusing their search on the mountains near Stumptown Road just west of Anaconda,” Division of Criminal Investigation Administrator Lee Johnson said in a release just after 10 p.m.
Brown, 45, lived next door to the site of the shooting, according to public records and bar owner David Gwerder.
The bartender and three patrons were killed, said Gwerder, who was not there at the time. He believed the four victims were the only ones present during the shooting, and was not aware of any prior conflicts between them and Brown.
“He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that,” Gwerder said. “He didn’t have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped.”
Brown’s home was cleared by a SWAT team and he was last seen in the Stump Town area, just west of Anaconda, authorities said.
More than a dozen officers from local and state police converged on that area, locking it down so no one was allowed in or out. A helicopter also hovered over a nearby mountainside as officers moved among the trees, said Randy Clark, a retired police officer who lives there.
Brown was believed to be armed, the Montana Highway Patrol said in a statement.
At a 10 p.m. press conference Friday in front of the bar, Johnson urged Anaconda residents to be cautious.
“While law enforcement has not received reports of Brown harming any other individuals, he is believed to be armed, and he is extremely dangerous. Residents in the area have been notified and are encouraged to stay inside their homes and on high alert,” Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson did not name the people killed at the bar.
“We have identified all four victims in today’s tragedy but will not release their names until all family members have been notified and the time is appropriate,” he said.
Brown served in the U.S. Army as an armor crewman from 2001 to 2005 and deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005, according to Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, an Army spokesperson. Brown was in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to March 2009, Castro said. He left military service in the rank of sergeant.
His niece, Clare Boyle, told the AP on Friday that her uncle has been mentally sick for years and that she and other family members have tried repeatedly to seek help.
“This isn’t just a drunk/high man going wild,” she wrote in a Facebook message. “It’s a sick man who doesn’t know who he is sometimes and frequently doesn’t know where or when he is either.”
As reports of the shooting spread through town, business owners locked their doors and sheltered inside with customers.
The owner of the Firefly Café in Anaconda said she locked up her business at about 11 a.m. Friday after getting alerted to the shooting by a friend. Two hours later, she was still waiting for an all clear before reopening.
“We are Montana, so guns are not new to us. For our town to be locked down, everybody’s pretty rattled,” café owner Barbie Nelson said.
“It’s a small town, so we all probably know someone who was there” at the shooting. she added.
In a 1:20 p.m. Friday post on X, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said that its Denver office is “responding to a shooting where multiple parties have been shot at a business in Anaconda.”
Also in a post on X, made at 1:14 p.m. Friday, Gov. Greg Gianforte said: “I’m closely monitoring the situation involving an active shooter in Anaconda. Please join Susan and me in praying for the victims, their loved ones, and the brave law enforcement officers responding to this tragedy.”
Mass killings, defined by the FBI as involving at least four victims, have been rare in Montana’s modern history.
In 2015, a man shot and killed his wife and three children before committing suicide in an off-grid cabin outside Anaconda, according to Reuters. The incident is the only Montana incident included in a database of mass killings maintained by Northeastern University.
Montana Free Press reporters Zeke Lloyd and Eric Dietrich contributed reporting.
