Parts of a national forest near Anaconda, Montana, were closed late Saturday as authorities expanded their search for the gunman accused of killing four people at a bar on Friday morning.
The suspect, identified as Army veteran Michael Paul Brown, was seen on security footage fleeing The Owl Bar, where the fatal shooting occurred, investigators said. He was last seen in the Stump Town area, west of Anaconda, according to The Associated Press.
Authorities have locked down Barker Lake and the surrounding area inside the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest as local, state and federal agencies continue their search by land and air, a Montana Department of Justice spokesperson said.
On Friday, local law enforcement warned that Brown is “armed and extremely dangerous.”
“It’s okay to go about your business in town but please use caution,” Anaconda Deer-Lodge County Chief Bill Sather said in a Saturday update on Facebook, urging residents to call 911 if they see the gunman.
Here’s what else we know:
The shooting
Details about what led up to the shooting in the usually peaceful backcountry remain unclear.
The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation said the shooting took place at the Owl Bar at 10:30 a.m. and the scene is now secure. As of early Sunday, the bar is listed as “temporarily closed” online.
Cassandra Dutra, a bartender at the establishment, told CNN she felt extremely overwhelmed and sad by the incident.
Brown lived next door to the bar and would come in frequently, she said, but noted “he wasn’t a part of the camaraderie” among other customers.
Dutra was not working on Friday, but said she lived nearby and heard noises during the shooting.
At first, she didn’t think anything of it because there was construction outside the bar. When she heard there was a shooting, she did not immediately realize people had been hurt.
“I didn’t immediately panic because I just know the atmosphere in the Owl … it never occurred to me that anybody was hurt,” she said.
David Gwerder, the owner of The Owl Bar, told the AP he was unaware of any conflicts between Brown and anyone who was in the bar Friday morning.
“He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that,” Gwerder told the AP. “He didn’t have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped.”
Details about what led up to the shooting in the usually peaceful backcountry remain unclear.
CNN has reached out to Gwerder for comment.
The suspect
Brown was part of an armored vehicle crew in the US Army from January 2001 to May 2005, and was deployed to Iraq from February 2004 to March 2005, Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, a spokesperson with the US Army, told CNN in an email Saturday.
He later joined the Montana National Guard from April 2006 to March 2009 and left military service as a sergeant, Castro said.
Brown’s niece, Clare Boyle, told CNN her uncle was a veteran who struggled with mental health in the Army, and he wasn’t the same after his service.
His condition worsened after the passing of his parents, Boyle told CNN. She described him as “very sick” but also recalled some happy moments, such as learning to ride a bike and fishing with him.
Boyle expressed remorse and heartbreak for the victims’ families, noting that five families were “destroyed” on Friday.
The Army declined to release information about Brown’s mental health history citing policy and privacy constraints.
The search
In addition to Barker Lake in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, where Brown is suspected of having escaped to, authorities are also searching the area around Stumptown Road, north of the lake.
Anaconda resident Dan Haffey, who previously served as a fire foreman for the Montana Division of Forestry, told CNN his team would cut trails into the mountain for hikers.
“There’s a thousand places to hide on that mountain,” he said. “I’ve been on forest fires and in that drainage up there, and they’re 5,000 acres … That mountain is gigantic.”
Resident Randy Clark, who lives near Highway 1 and Stumptown Road told CNN helicopter searches near his home continued until about 11 p.m. on Friday and resumed at 6 a.m. Saturday.
He said he heard authorities shouting on Friday, but he couldn’t tell if they were yelling at the suspect or communicating with each other.
“I heard a bunch of sirens and stuff and saw the state troopers and local police flying down Highway 1, west toward Philipsburg,” he said. “(They) stopped directly across from where I live. You could see the blue lights and stuff, everything.”
A white Ford F-150 truck that Brown drove was found after the shooting on Friday, but he “was not located in or around the vehicle,” Montana Division of Criminal Investigation Administrator Lee Johnson said at a news conference.
Anaconda Deer-Lodge County Police Chief Bill Sather said Saturday the FBI, the Denver office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Granite County Sheriff’s Office were assisting with the investigation.
The victims
Johnson said Friday that investigators have identified the four victims of the shooting, though authorities will not release their names until all families are notified.
Dutra, the bartender at the Owl Bar, believes every person at the establishment during the shooting was killed, which included a bartender who was the only staff member working, and three customers.
CNN’s Taylor Romine, Josh Campbell, Taylor Galgano, Danya Gainor contributed to this report.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Comments