A shooting at a local dive bar in a small Montana town killed four people, prompting a manhunt for the gunman that has stretched into the weekend and rattled residents.
The authorities identified Michael Brown, 45, as a suspect in the shooting that took place on Friday morning. It was the deadliest in Montana since 2015. Mr. Brown is an Army veteran who has struggled with mental health issues, according to his relatives, and lived close to the bar.
The violent attack rocked the town, Anaconda, a tightly knit community in Deer Lodge County. Some people said they would now lock their doors at night for the first time in years; others said they would carry firearms for protection.
Here’s what we know so far about the shooting.
What Happened in the Attack
Around 10:30 a.m. on Friday, the gunman opened fire inside the Owl Bar, killing four people before fleeing the scene and veering onto a dirt road on the outskirts of town.
Footage from a security camera shows a man leaving the bar after the shooting, according to the Division of Criminal Investigation at the Montana Department of Justice, which shared the image and identified the person as Mr. Brown. He appeared gaunt in the video, and was shirtless and wearing dark shorts.
The circumstances of the attack and what might have motivated it are unclear.
The identities of the four people who were killed have not been released, though officials said Saturday that three of the victims were patrons and one was a bartender.
What We Know About the Suspect
Mr. Brown, who went by Mikey, is a longtime resident of Anaconda. He served in the Army as an armor crewman for four years and was deployed to Iraq for 13 months in 2004 and 2005, according to an Army spokeswoman. After leaving service as a sergeant, Mr. Brown joined the Montana National Guard, serving for roughly three years until 2009.
After leaving the military, Mr. Brown struggled with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, members of his family said. He was plagued by night terrors and so paranoid that he did not own a cellphone, according to one of his sisters, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Mr. Brown was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, his family said. They also said that they had tried to get him help, but that he had refused treatment. His mental health worsened after the death of his mother in 2021, one family member said.
Around town, Mr. Brown had a reputation for telling outlandish stories. One acquaintance, Scot Conrady, said that Mr. Brown’s stories were elaborate and detailed. Once, according to Mr. Conrady, Mr. Brown said that he had “jumped off the Empire State Building and landed in a trash can.” Another time, Mr. Brown told Mr. Conrady that he had “floated to China.”
Mr. Brown’s neighbors knew he struggled with his mental health, but two residents who knew him said that he was generally calm and that they had not seen him be violent before. His family described him as reserved and loving.
“He was in his own world, but we accepted him for who he was,” said Jim Jardine, an Anaconda resident who knew Mr. Brown.
How the Search Is Unfolding
The authorities were still searching for Mr. Brown as of Saturday. In a short video message, Chief Bill Sather of the Anaconda Deer Lodge County Police said that residents should stay vigilant but that they were free to go about their business as usual. The day before, officials had urged people to stay inside, prompting stores and businesses to close. They reopened on Saturday, but the town’s streets were largely empty.
Law enforcement agents have been focused on an area off the road where Mr. Brown was last seen, Chase Scheuer, a spokesman for the attorney general of Montana, said on Saturday.
The area’s dense landscape and topography could complicate search efforts, and agents have spread out on foot, as well as by car and helicopter.
Several local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are helping with the manhunt, including neighboring sheriff departments, the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, the F.B.I. and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A Quiet Town Surrounded by Wilderness
The shooting rocked Anaconda, a former copper smelting town near Butte. The town and the surrounding area have a population of roughly 10,000, and Anaconda is surrounded by wild country, including the Flint Creek and Pintler mountain ranges. Residents described it is a quiet community, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else.
Brian Stegeman, a bartender at another bar in Anaconda, said the Owl Bar was a welcoming place and that it had been a “fixture in this community” for decades. A local hangout and a small-town dive, the bar boasted on a sign above its door that it was “the best tap beer in town.” The Owl is tucked into a neighborhood of two-story homes a few blocks from Anaconda’s main business district, and it was usually quiet during the day, neighbors said.
Mr. Brown lived on the same street as the bar, and social media posts show that he had visited before the shooting.
Jim Robbins, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Chris Hippensteel contributed reporting. Kirsten Noyes and Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
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