Search for the bar shooter who killed 4 is Montana's highest priority,
governor says
[August 06, 2025]
By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte on Tuesday signed an executive order freeing
up more resources for local law enforcement as they searched a
mountainous area for a former U.S. soldier suspected of killing four
people at a bar last week.
The search for Michael Paul Brown stretched into its fifth day with more
than three dozen law enforcement agencies helping with an effort that
Montana's top officials described during a news conference as the
highest priority in the state.
A team with the Montana National Guard has flown nearly 20 hours since
last Friday, looking for any clues for Brown's whereabouts as an
undisclosed number of officers searched on foot.
"Rest assured, our brave men and women of law enforcement aren’t giving
up, and I ask that you not give up on them either,” Gianforte said.
Authorities say Brown, 45, fatally shot four people last Friday at The
Owl Bar in the small town of Anaconda with a rifle that police believe
was his personal weapon. He fled in a white pickup that he later ditched
and stole another white vehicle stocked with clothes, shoes and camping
supplies.
A female bartender and three male patrons were killed. They have been
identified as Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64; Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59; David
Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74.
The shooting rattled the tight-knit town of about 9,000 people, and many
residents remain on high alert with the suspect still at large.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen reiterated Tuesday that
authorities are operating under the assumption that Brown is armed and
extremely dangerous.
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Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, center, speaks to the press on Tuesday,
Aug. 5, 2025 at the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Courthouse regarding
a shooting at the Owl Bar in Anaconda, Mont. last Friday. (Joseph
Scheller/The Montana Standard via AP)
Without providing more details, Knudsen said there's evidence that
authorities are searching in the right area. About 22 square miles
(57 square kilometers) of forest southwest of Anaconda have been
closed to the public by the National Forest System as the search
continues. Knudsen added that it does not appear that Brown has
broken into any cabins or homes in the area to get food or
additional supplies.
Knudsen and investigators declined to share the number of law
enforcement personnel active in the search Tuesday. Canine detection
units and drones equipped with heat-detection technology were also
being used in the search, they said.
Federal authorities were offering a reward of up to $10,000 for any
information leading to Brown’s capture.
Family members have said Brown has struggled with mental illness for
years, and they had sought help for him.
Brown, who lived next door to The Owl Bar, served in the Army as an
armor crewman from 2001 to 2005 and deployed to Iraq from early 2004
until March 2005. He also was in the Montana National Guard from
2006 to 2009.
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