Man accused of killing 4 people at Montana bar is in custody following weeklong multiagency manhunt

Michael Paul Brown, who is accused of fatally shooting four people at a bar in Anaconda, Montana, last week, has been taken into custody following a weeklong multiagency manhunt, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Friday.

Brown had been on the run since the “biggest” shooting in the state of Montana in a decade. The suspect was armed when he was arrested around 2 p.m. local time Friday about five and a half miles away from the shooting scene and is now in the custody of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County authorities, according to Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

“One week ago today, devastation struck this small Montana community of Anaconda,” Gianforte said at a news conference Friday evening. “Our brave men and women in uniform didn’t waste a second. Law enforcement jumped into action, began the search with the promise to not give up until they found this suspect.”

Authorities on Friday declined to comment on which charges will be filed against the suspect. CNN is working to determine whether Brown has retained an attorney.

Brown, an Army veteran, was seen on security footage fleeing The Owl Bar, where the fatal shooting occurred on August 1, investigators said. Since then, he had been sought by over 250 law enforcement personnel representing over 39 local, state and federal agencies traversing challenging terrain in the western Montana wilderness.

Tips from the public were also crucial in locating Brown, who was “flushed out” and found in an area authorities had previously searched and cleared, Knudsen said.

“They responded to every call. They followed up on every tip. They spent hours climbing over these mountains looking for this criminal. They used every resource available to them to search for him,” Gianforte said about authorities involved in the manhunt.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Attorney Morgan Smith says her office has notified victims’ families that Brown was taken into custody.

“The entire community of Anaconda is going to sleep tonight and truly rest,” Smith said Friday evening.

How the search unfolded, according to authorities

After fleeing the scene, Brown briefly went to his home and then another structure down the street, authorities said Friday. He then came out of that structure, ditching his clothing and other personal items, and stole a vehicle.

“He was identified almost immediately when he got in that vehicle and took off,” Knudsen said.

Investigators found a white Ford F-150 truck that Brown drove the day of the shooting, but Brown “was not located in or around the vehicle,” Montana Division of Criminal Investigation Administrator Lee Johnson said at the time.

The challenge was “an almost identical vehicle pulled into the highway in front of him, and so law enforcement wasn’t sure which white F-150 he was in,” Knudsen said.

On Thursday, there were about 130 personnel in the area where Brown was found, according to Knudsen.

“We think that was directly correlated to flushing him out today, getting him down into an area that we know we had searched before,” he said. “It’s not someplace he’d been hiding.”

On Friday, the US Marshals Service, Montana Highway Patrol, Laurel Police Department, Great Falls Police Department, the US Forest Service and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation located and apprehended Brown.

Brown is being held at the Butte-Silver Bow Detention Center, according to officials.

With the suspect in custody, authorities say they will now seek justice for the families of the victims. Those killed in the shooting were identified as 59-year-old Daniel Baillie, 64-year-old Nancy Kelley, 70-year-old David Leach and 74-year-old Tony Palm.

“It just isn’t real. It’s totally overwhelming,” said Cassandra Dutra, a bartender at the Owl Bar.

Brown served as an armor crewman in the US Army from January 2001 to May 2005 and was deployed to Iraq from February 2004 to March 2005, Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, a spokesperson with the US Army, previously told CNN.

Brown’s niece, Clare Boyle, previously told CNN he struggled with his mental health during his time in the Army and was never the same after his service. Brown’s mental health got progressively worse with the passing of both of his parents, Boyle said.

“The system failed.. We as people failed.. failed to report suspicious behavior because ‘that’s just Mikee’… We begged people to listen and open their eyes,” she said, referencing his nickname.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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