The suspect in the deadly Montana bar shooting has been captured after a weeklong manhunt, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Friday. Michael Brown, 45, had been on the run in the mountains since Aug. 1, when authorities say he killed four people at The Owl Bar in the town of Anaconda.
“The Anaconda shooter Michael Brown has been apprehended. Incredible response from law enforcement officers across Montana. Thank you to all partners for your commitment to the search,” Gianforte posted on X.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said that at approximately 2 p.m., authorities apprehended and placed Brown under arrest near the search area in Anaconda.
“I am proud of the unrelenting law enforcement effort this week to find and arrest Michael Paul Brown. The support we’ve seen for the community of Anaconda from across the state and the nation has also been remarkable. The families and friends of the victims remain in my prayers,” said Knudsen.
Officials have said the suspect went into the bar last Friday morning and allegedly opened fire, killing Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59; Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64; David Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74.
“By all indications, this is an unstable individual who walked in and murdered four people in cold blood for no reason whatsoever,” Knudsen told reporters Sunday.
The suspect lived next door to the bar and appeared to be a regular, Knudsen said.
After the shooting, Brown fled the scene, and he was believed to have gotten rid of some of his personal belongings, including his clothes, Knudsen said. Authorities had released an image of the suspect taken shortly after the shooting. showing him shirtless and barefoot, wearing only a pair of black shorts. He was believed to have acquired new clothes from a stolen vehicle, Knudsen said.
Investigators believe the suspect used his own rifle in the shooting, Knudsen said.
Brown served in the Army from 2001 to 2005, including a deployment to Iraq, and then in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to 2009.
Brown’s niece, Clare Boyle, told The Associated Press that her uncle struggled with mental illness for years, and several local residents told CBS News they were aware of his troubles.
Kristian Kelley, whose mother Nancy Kelley was among the victims, said, “He was somebody that needed some serious resources. He had some mental health issues as well as PTSD from being in the military.” She added, “I’ve never known him to be violent. He was a person who would tell pretty strange stories and different things like that.”
Another area resident, Shane Charles, said Brown “would tell us stories that he was John Wick one day or he was the president’s right-hand man.”
Charles knew Nancy Kelley, who was working as the bartender when the shooting happened.
“Nancy was a fun, bubbly person, always happy, had a smile on her face, always the first to say, ‘Hello, how’s your day going,'” Charles said. He added, “All of the victims were great people. Our community is suffering because they’ve lost some great, great people.”
