A manhunt for a gunman who opened fire at a neighborhood bar in Montana, killing four people, stretched into a second day on Saturday.
The authorities were focused on dense terrain not far from the site of the shooting in the small town of Anaconda after finding an abandoned truck nearby.
The suspect disappeared into the rural foothills of southwestern Montana after the attack at the Owl Bar, prompting an intense search.
The authorities identified the suspect as Michael P. Brown, 45, and said late on Friday that he remained on the loose after driving away from the scene. Officers said they found the vehicle he was driving, a white truck, but not Mr. Brown.
Local, state and federal agents fanned across the region on foot, in vehicles and by helicopter in a growing chase through brushy, difficult-to-search terrain just outside town. Residents and business owners were told to keep their doors closed and look out for the suspect, who was described as armed and dangerous.
“We’re all in the brush,” said Dan Sletton, who lives near Stumptown Road west of the town, where the suspect was last seen. “The guy could be 20 feet from us and we wouldn’t know.”
“This is a small, tight-knit community that’s been harmed by the heinous actions of one individual today, who does not represent what this community — or Montanans — stand for,” said Lee Johnson, who leads the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation.
The truck, a white pickup with a crumpled hood and grille was towed out of the area of Stumptown Road on Friday evening.
Mr. Johnson said all four victims had been identified but he did not publicly name them. He did not respond to reporters’ questions.
Witnesses said they heard gunshots in the bar around 10:30 a.m. local time. Mr. Brown was well known around town, and social media posts show he had been to the establishment.
Mr. Brown joined the Army in January 2001 and had deployed to Iraq for a little over a year between 2004 and 2005 before leaving the service in May 2005 as a sergeant, an Army spokeswoman said. He was in the Montana National Guard for about two years until March 2008.
Two relatives of Mr. Brown said he had returned from the Army with physical ailments and severe post-traumatic stress disorder that gave him night terrors. They said he was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
One of the relatives, a sister who spoke on the condition that her name not be used, said that Mr. Brown would claim that famous movies had been based on his actions overseas. He sometimes told people that he was Jason Bourne, or a five-star general on a secret mission.
She and other family members had tried to get help for Mr. Brown from the Department of Veterans Affairs, she said, but without Mr. Brown’s cooperation, little could be done.
Tobe McHugh, 48, and Tyler Edwards, 25, two mechanics in the area, said Mr. Brown had, in the past, told them wild stories, including about being a professional golfer or completing secret missions.
“He’s a calm guy, but he’s out there,” Mr. McHugh said, as he stood outside of another bar down the street from the Owl. “He was always telling stories.”
Mr. Brown grew up mostly in Anaconda, a former copper smelting town near Butte in Deer Lodge County, with a population of about 10,000. Records show that he lived just two houses down from the Owl Bar, a local dive with a pool table, a clutter of decorations and a sign out front that boasts the “best tap beer in town.”
On Friday evening, the bar was surrounded by police tape and law enforcement vehicles, with TV cameras lined across the street awaiting news on the manhunt. More police officers and federal agents continued to stream in, including from Missoula, about an hour-and-a-half drive northwest.
“I’m constantly hearing sirens go off every 10 or 15 minutes,” said Brandon Baragar, 32, who lives in the search area. “They’re looking, just trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
Friday’s attack marked the deadliest shooting in Montana since June 2015, when a man in the same county shot his wife and three young children before killing himself, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, a research group.
Aishvarya Kavi and Kylie Mohr contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice. He is from upstate New York.
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