Man hunting a military veteran suspected of Mortally draw four people in a Montana bar Stretched in a fourth day on Monday.
The police are looking for Michael Paul Brown, 45, who is wanted for having pretended to have fired the four inside the OWL bar in the small town of Anaconda before fleeing from a white van, which he abandoned at some point. The police now believe that Brown has abandoned this vehicle and stole another which contained camping equipment, shoes and clothes.
The prosecutor general of Montana, Austin Knudsen, told journalists on Sunday that Brown would still be armed and dangerous. A reward of up to $ 10,000 was offered for any information that leads to its arrest.
“He is an unstable person who entered and murdered four people in cold blood for no reason. There is absolutely a concern for the public,” said Knudsen.
The authorities have published a photo of the suspect who would be taken while he fled after the shooting: left, barefoot and carrying only black shorts, it is seen to descend which seems to be a flight of concrete steps in the open air. But because vehicle authorities believe that Brown may have stolen shoes and clothes, it is possible that it is now dressed, the authorities said.
Montana Department of Justice
Investigators are considering all the possible options for where Brown is, said the Attorney General. This includes the search for the woods where the brown hunted and camped while he was a child. But Knudsen noted that during the tip of the tourist season in western Montana, some law enforcement officials should return to their local jurisdictions for their regular responsibilities.
Research involves deputies crossing the rugged mountain west of Anaconda, both on the ground and by air. It included several local, state and federal agencies. While the police roam the wild land, the woods southwest of Anaconda were closed to the public by the national forest system.
Anaconda-deer Lodge police chief Bill Sather said on Saturday that companies in the region could open, but he urged caution.
The victims were identified as Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59 years old; Nancy Lauretta Kelly, 64 years old; David Allen Leach, 70 years old; And Tony Wayne Palm, 74 years old. They all came from Anaconda.
Knudsen said that the investigation led them to believe that Brown, who lived next to it, was a regular at the bar and knew the victims.
“This is a small united community that has been injured by the odious actions of an individual who does not represent what this community represents or the Montanans,” said Lee Johnson, administrator of the Montana criminal investigation division.
Kristian Kelley, the daughter of Nancy Kelley, told CBS News that “her mother was a wonderful nurse, and she had a gift to take care of people in the hospital. She was always very nice and very hearts for her patients. She loved animals.”
“She just retired and just did [bartending] To have something to do a day or two. Just to go out, “she said.
Joseph Scheller / The Montana Standard via AP
Anaconda, about 40 kilometers northwest of Butte, is home to around 9,000 people. Organized by the mountains, it was founded by copper barons which took advantage of the neighboring mines in the late 1800s. A foundry stack which is no longer operational is looming on the valley.
The owner of the OWL bar, David Gwerder, told the Associated Press that he was not aware of any conflict between Brown and the victims.
“He knew everyone who was in this bar. I guarantee it,” said Gwerder. “He had no dispute with any of them. I think he broke.”
Brown’s niece, Clare Boyle, told AP that his uncle had trouble with mental illness for years. She said that she and other family members had repeatedly asked for help.
“He’s not just a drunk / high man who is unleashed,” she said in a Facebook message. “He is a sick man who does not know who he is sometimes and often does not know where or when he is either.”
Kristian Kelley told CBS News that she knew who is Brown, but her mother “had never mentioned it”.
“He was someone who needed serious resources. He had mental health problems as well as the SSPT to be in the army,” said Kelley. “I never knew him to be violent. She was a person who told stories that were strange enough and different things like that.”
Robert Wyatt, 70, said that he was neighboring with one of the victims, David Allen Leach, in a social housing complex for the elderly and disabled people.
“Everyone has been nervous” since Friday, Wyatt said.
Leach was deaf and kept mainly for him, said Wyatt, and he remembers that Leach made a family visit almost a year ago. But Leach has always been happy to help its neighbors with tasks such as moving furniture.
“If you needed help, Dave would help,” said Wyatt. “He was a good neighbor.”
David Jabarek, 70, said that a mass shot in a place as small as Anaconda was confusing for many. He said he had regularly seen the shooter and the victims during the 20 years he lived in Anaconda.
“We only have 9,000 people, so it’s like, what just happened? Everyone knows everyone here,” he said.
Jabarek headed for Owl Bar less than 30 minutes before the shooting occurred, around 10:15 am on an impulse, he went to run nearby. When he returned to the region, he saw that the bar was surrounded by police.
“If I would have been there when I was supposed to be, you wouldn’t talk to me. Someone tells you about me,” he said.
The tight call now keeps Jabarek at night. But he said he was not afraid of Brown’s return perspective.
“Everyone here has two dozen firearms in their house, and right now they are in hand,” said Jabarek.
Brown served in the army as an armor equipment from 2001 to 2005 and deployed in Iraq from early 2004 to March 2005, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Ruth Castro, army spokesperson. Brown was in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to March 2009, said Castro, and left military service to the rank of sergeant.