‘He’s alive and it’s over’: Anaconda shooting suspect arrested after weeklong manhunt
Michael Brown, suspected of fatally shooting four people at an Anaconda bar on Aug. 1, was arrested Friday after a weeklong manhunt that involved hundreds of officers.
Brown, 45, was found Friday afternoon near the Ranch Bar, 13177 Montana Highway 1.
Authorities said they believed Brown ditched a stolen Ford F-150 and scampered into the mountains along Stumptown Road just west of Anaconda. The Ranch Bar is near the western end of Stumptown Road.
Bill Everett, chief executive of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, said Brown was captured in or near an old abandoned trailer near the bar.
“He’s alive and it’s over,” Everett told The Montana Standard. “Anaconda can get some sleep tonight.”
Authorities said he was captured “right at a structure” and was armed, though they would not elaborate on that. He was upright and communicative and identified himself.
“I thought he looked surprisingly in good shape,” Lee Johnson, administrator of the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation, said at a news conference. “One of the things we did immediately was get him medically cleared — get him medical attention as long as he’s been out there.”
“The weather certainly hasn’t been, you know, conducive to survivability with no resources," he said. "But you know, with the ability to basically move around the potentially inner structures, have some structure, I thought he was in pretty good shape.”
Attorney General Austin Knudsen said Brown was "technically armed," but would not provide details.
“There was a weapon on him,” he said.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Attorney Morgan Smith said there was more work to be done.
“This isn’t the end, it is the beginning,” she said, adding she plans to “prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.”
Smith said the community “has been on an edge” throughout the ordeal and manhunt.
“I can tell you that upon confirmation and apprehension today, my office was able to contact all of the victims’ families and provide them with official notice that he was in custody,” Smith said. “My understanding from that is that this is day one of all of those folks being able to move forward.”
Brown was listed Aug. 9 in the Butte-Silver Bow County Detention Center.
When news of Brown’s capture was verified Friday afternoon, there were immediate responses of relief from Anaconda residents conveyed on a community-based Facebook page.
“Prayers have been answered!” one person posted. “Great news!”
“Thank goodness … now healing may begin,” wrote one woman, while another stated, “So glad Anaconda can now have some peace.”
The Ranch Bar is about 5 miles northwest of urban Anaconda on Highway 1. It is near Stumptown Road, which has been part of the search area since the shooting.
The property that housed the trailer is about 200 yards west of The Ranch Bar, which is itself about 5 miles from downtown Anaconda. The bar closed briefly last weekend because of the potential that Brown could be a threat.
Numerous law enforcement agencies were at the scene Friday afternoon. They included the U.S. Marshals Service, Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Police, Montana Highway Patrol and several others.
Police vehicles lined Montana Highway 1 near the driveway. Motorists passing by noticed the commotion and flashing lights and slowed. All asked some variety of, “Did they get him?”
One man who stopped and left his vehicle thanked officers leaving the scene. Several grinned in response.
The property is near Warm Springs Creek. Stumptown Road is close at hand and offers a bridge over the creek.
An officer with the U.S. Marshals Service declined to say whether Brown was armed when found.
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The Owl Bar victims are Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59, Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64, David Allen Leach, 70, and Tony Wayne Palm, 74. All four were residents of Anaconda. Authorities have not released any information regarding the shooter's motive.
Gov. Greg Gianforte praised officers for the arrest.
"Incredible response from law enforcement officers across Montana," he said. "Thank you to all partners for your commitment to the search. May God continue to be with the families of the four victims still grieving their loss."
Knudsen, whose Department of Justice was leading the search, said he was proud of the “unrelenting law enforcement effort” to find Brown.
“The support we’ve seen for the community of Anaconda from across the state and the nation has also been remarkable,” he said in an emailed statement. “The families and friends of the victims remain in my prayers.”
According to the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, the incident occurred around 10:30 a.m. Aug. 1 at the Owl Bar at 819 E. 3rd St. in the Goosetown neighborhood of Anaconda. He was last seen around 2 p.m. Aug. 1 driving west of Anaconda on Stumptown Road. He was believed to be driving a stolen white Ford F-150 pickup.
Several days ago, authorities released a still photo taken from video surveillance that showed Brown walking on a set of stairs at some point after the shooting. He wasn’t armed in that photo and it appeared he was wearing nothing but shorts or underwear.
He was last seen driving away in a white Ford pickup about 90 minutes after the shooting, with police apparently on his tail. That led to questions of how he could have ditched the truck and scampered into the mountains without getting caught right away.
Knudsen said “there was a little time” after the shooting when they believe Brown “went to his house briefly, went down the street and hid in another structure.” The photo was him leaving that structure, he said.
“He ditched his clothes and some personal effects,” Knudsen said, then jumped into the stolen truck.
“He was identified almost immediately,” Knudsen said. “The trick became, an almost identical vehicle pulled onto the highway in front of him and so law enforcement wasn’t sure which white Ford F-150 he was in. One continued going west and one went down Stumptown Road. We found (the right one) and identified it fairly quickly, but that’s how that went.”
Officials say more than 250 law enforcement officers from nearly 40 local, state and federal agencies have been involved in the manhunt in some capacity. Among other assets, authorities have deployed helicopters with infrared technology.
“They haven’t stopped searching since the very beginning,” Gianforte said at news conference Friday evening in front of the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Courthouse. “They responded to every call. They followed up on every tip. They spent hours climbing over these mountains looking for this criminal. They used every resource available to them to search for him.
“'Thanks' does not cover what we owe these brave men and women,” Gianforte said.
Brown lived in a home next door to the Owl Bar, authorities said. According to an initial online records search, Brown is a 1998 high school graduate with no listed criminal record.
He served in the U.S. Army from 2001 to 2005 and had been deployed at least once to Iraq. He was in the National Guard from 2006 to 2009 and his last known rank was sergeant.
Numerous social media posts from people who said they knew Brown claim he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and had sought mental health help numerous times. Authorities have not confirmed those claims.
David Gwerder, owner of the Owl Bar, told the Associated Press that the suspect "knew everyone that was in the bar. I guarantee you that. He didn't have a running dispute with any of them. I think he snapped."
Gwerder said he was not aware of any conflicts between Brown and the victims.
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, thanked law enforcement officials who helped apprehend Brown.
“For the past week, Anaconda and the surrounding community showed the country the resilience and grit that makes MT special,” he said in an email. “Our thoughts continue to be with the victims and their families.”
This story will be updated.
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