Up in the wooded mountains of Montana, the police have scoured cabins, trailed search dogs and peered from a helicopter, but have not produced a confirmed sighting of the Army veteran who they believe killed four people at a neighborhood bar last week.
On Tuesday, as the search entered its fifth day, officials said at a news conference that they believed they were on the right track, even though the suspect, Michael P. Brown, had eluded capture since Friday, when the shooting took place in the small city of Anaconda, Mont.
Austin Knudsen, the attorney general of Montana, said Tuesday that some police officers who had joined the search would need to return to their home jurisdictions. But he maintained that the manhunt was law enforcement’s “top focus in the entire state of Montana.”
The authorities continue to operate under the assumption that the suspect is alive, armed and extremely dangerous, he said.
Mr. Brown, 45, is believed to have fled to a mountainous area west of Anaconda known as Stump Town, after walking into a bar two doors down the street from his home on Friday and fatally shooting a bartender and three patrons with a rifle.
Officials have said the suspect may have camping gear with him. They have been combing the forests and hills near Anaconda, which are dotted with cabins, lakes, hiking trails and abandoned mine shafts from the early 1900s, when the region became known for its wealth of copper and other metal ores.
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