ANACONDA, Mont. — A shooting at The Owl Bar in Anaconda at 10:30 a.m. Friday left four people dead, according to law enforcement officials. The Associated Press reports a bartender and three patrons were killed.
The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Michael Brown of Anaconda, remains at large.
Authorities said Brown was last seen driving a stolen 2007 white Ford F-150 pickup with Montana plates DTY493.
The vehicle was spotted heading west of Anaconda on Stumptown Road.
Brown is described as 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.
Officials warned that Brown is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous.
Law enforcement agencies urge anyone who sees Brown or his vehicle to contact them immediately.
Those with additional information are asked to reach out to Anaconda/Deer Lodge Law Enforcement at 406-563-5241.
Brown lived next door to the bar, according to public records. Authorities said his home was cleared by a SWAT team, and he is still at large, according to the Granite County Sheriff’s Office.
Bar owner David Gwerder, who was not there at the time, told the AP he believes 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.”
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 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.
As reports of the shooting spread through town, business owners locked their doors and sheltered inside with customers. At Caterpillars to Butterflies Childcare, a nursery a few blocks from the shooting scene, owner Sage Huot said she’d kept the children inside all day after someone called to let her know about the violence.
“We’re constantly doing practice drills, fire drills and active shooter drills, so we locked down the facility, locked the doors, and we have a quiet spot where we play activities away from all of our windows and doors,” Huot said.
Anaconda is about 75 miles southeast of Missoula in a valley hemmed in by mountains. A town of about 9,000 people, it was founded by copper barons who profited off nearby mines in the late 1800s. A smelter stack that’s no longer operational looms over the valley.
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.
“We are Montana, so guns are not new to us,” café owner Barbie Nelson said. “For our town to be locked down, everybody’s pretty rattled.”
Officials are asking people to avoid the Anaconda area.
