Suspect shot by Billings police had past charges, was recently released

The man shot in the head by Billings police last Thursday afternoon has been charged, the department announced Monday morning.

Caleb Denny, who allegedly pointed a gun at officers before he was shot, is now currently detained in the Yellowstone County Detention Facility.

It’s not the first time 28-year-old Denny has been jailed in Yellowstone County. When he was detained on March 26, there was a preexisting court order issued weeks prior for his arrest.

It also wasn’t the first time there was an order for Denny’s arrest. Court documents reference two orders for his arrest out of Hill County. Denny resides in Box Elder in or near Hill County, though he also has addresses in Billings.

Prior to his past detainment, on Nov. 25, a Yellowstone County Sheriff’s deputy noted a poorly illuminated driver’s side headlight, prompting him to trail the vehicle, according to court documents. After noticing a nonfunctioning brake light and another light obscuring the license plate, the deputy pulled the vehicle over.

The deputy notified the driver of the faulty equipment and saw two passengers in the vehicle as well. In the front passenger seat was Denny. After verifying his identity and the related Hill County warrants, he was arrested. In Hill County, he was previously charged with possession of drugs and related paraphernalia, in addition to violating his probation in 2021 and 2022.

In Yellowstone County, two officers searched him and found two baggies and a jar. One baggie was alleged to contain methamphetamine. Denny was then put into jail and charged with felony possession of dangerous drugs.

At some point, Denny was released in Billings again, though court documents don’t seem to indicate when. The booking department couldn’t provide an answer as to when he was released in the past.

On Feb. 15, the court ordered Denny’s arrest after he failed to comply with pretrial monitoring, with one of the requirements being regular drug testing. Bond was set at $10,000.

On March 19, a new order was made by the court for his arrest after he failed to appear for a hearing. Bond was then set at $15,000.

Police eventually found Denny on March 26. On an unrelated suspicious person call that day, police took roughly 23 minutes to respond. BPD Chief Rich St. John said it wasn’t a “super high priority call,” in a press conference Friday.

According to BPD, Denny was rummaging through a car near the 1200 block of North 26th Street. The suspect ran after he became aware of the police.

Officers chased and told him multiple times to stop, but Denny allegedly ignored them. Then, during the chase, police observed him reaching for a handgun and turning toward them.

Officer Quin Johnson, who has been with the police department for seven years, fired a single shot from his handgun. It hit Denny in the head, but it hasn’t been specified where. The shot knocked Denny to the ground, although he kept moving allegedly to get access to his handgun, according to preliminary information shared by the police chief.

Denny was then shot with a beanbag round which stopped him from moving toward the gun; he was then taken by police officers.

St. John said on Friday that many police shootings often are in relation to drug use or mental health issues.

“One of the things we will obviously be interested in, when we look at any substance on board, whether we have alcohol or narcotics, we'll certainly be looking at any mental issues,” St. John said Friday before the charges were announced. “A lot of times we have co-occurring mental and addiction issues when we end up in officer involved shooting situations. We've had this conversation before, unfortunately, that the common denominator in a lot of our officer involved shootings is methamphetamine.”

The past charging document in relation to the November case didn’t indicate any need for a mental health evaluation.

Denny was taken to a hospital for his injuries after the shooting before being arrested and transferred to the jail on Sunday. He has been charged with three counts of assault on an officer, drug possession, obstructing an officer, resisting arrest and trespass to a vehicle.

As of early Monday morning, the charges had yet to be officially filed. The news release announcing the charges had details wrong around time and location.

The Montana Division of Criminal Investigations is leading the investigation of whether proper use-of-force procedures were followed by police officers. That is in addition to an investigation by the BPD’s Office of Professional Standards.

Such investigations typically take about three to four months, St. John said.