ANACONDA, Mont. — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen identified during a press conference Sunday morning the four people killed in a shooting in Anaconda on Friday.
Michael Brown, 45, is suspected of killing Daniel Baillie, 59, Nancy Kelley, 64, David Leach, 70 and Tony Palm, 74. All of the victims were from Anaconda, a town of fewer than 10,000 people per 2020 census data.
The search for Brown continued into a third day on Sunday.
The deadly shooting at The Owl Bar rocked the town of Anaconda on Friday, forcing the town into something of a lockdown as law enforcement officials urged people to shelter in place.
As the search for Brown continued into the weekend, a clearer picture of the suspect began to come into focus.
Brown was previously in the U.S. Army and the Montana National guard until 2009.
In a written statement to NonStop Local, Brown’s niece Clare Boyle described her uncle as “a very mentally ill veteran.” She said Brown “developed schizophrenia” while he was serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and that he wasn’t allowed to be deployed while he was in the National Guard due to his mental illness.
Property records confirmed by law enforcement officials show Brown lived right next door to the Owl Bar.
“It sounds like he was a regular at this establishment, he literally lived next door,” Knudsen said on Sunday. “I think it’s likely he knew the bartender and these patrons, which makes this even more heinous.”
Officials said Brown drove away from the scene after the shooting on Friday, but he eventually abandoned the stolen truck he was driving.
Search efforts on Saturday focused largely on the area near Stumptown Road west of Anaconda where officials said they had set up a perimeter.
On Sunday morning, Knudsen touted the scale of the search effort from law enforcement but noted that the strategy would change over the next 24 hours.
“We’re going to catch this guy,” Knudsen said. “Probably in the next 24 hours you’re going to see the law enforcement response shift a little bit. We have a lot of resources here in Anaconda. They’ve been here for about 48 hours. They’ve got home agencies. It’s still tourist season in western Montana, so we’re not going to have as many resources here.”
Knudsen described the next steps in the investigation as a “fugitive location” operation with a smaller group searching.
Knudsen also said the truck Brown stole was filled with equipment. A picture shared by law enforcement of him shortly after the shooting showed him mostly naked and apparently ill-equipped to be on the run.
“We have every reason to believe the suspect is fully clothed, shoes on his feet, able to get around,” Knudsen said.
Knudsen said there was a $7,500 reward for information leading to Brown’s arrest. Those with information on where he is were asked to call the U.S. Marshals Service at 1-877-926-8332.
