Montana bar shooting: Manhunt intensifies for suspect as victims named
Authorities expand search for an army veteran suspect after a rifle attack at The Owl Bar in Anaconda killed a bartender and three patrons amid a rugged manhunt.
Police have identified the four victims in the Montana bar shooting as the search for the suspect, an army veteran, enters its third day.
The attack occurred just before 10:30 local time on Friday at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, a town of about 10,000 surrounded by rugged national forest in southwestern Montana. The victims include barmaid Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64, and patrons Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59, David Allen Leach, 70, and Tony Wayne Palm, 74.
Authorities say 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown, a regular at the bar who lived next door, fled to the nearby foothills after opening fire with a rifle. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen described Brown as "an unstable individual" who acted "in cold blood" and warned he remains armed and dangerous.
A reward of $7,500 has been offered for any information leading to Brown’s capture. Around 250 law enforcement officers from federal, state and local agencies are searching on foot, by vehicle and by helicopter, covering both the town and adjacent national forest land.
Investigators recovered Brown’s abandoned white Ford F-150 pickup but have not ruled out the possibility he may be dead. Surveillance footage released by the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation shows a shirtless, barefoot man wearing black shorts leaving the scene, believed to be Brown discarding his clothes and personal items before changing into different attire.
The shooting forced local businesses to shut on Friday, and several public events have been canceled amid the ongoing manhunt. Brown, a former armour crewman who served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005, had struggled with mental illness, his niece told the Associated Press.
With the suspect still at large in rugged terrain, authorities continue an intensive search to bring closure to a community shocked by a fatal act of violence.
This topic was reported by BBC News.
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