Four people were killed in a shooting at a Montana bar on Friday, leading to a lockdown in a nearby neighborhood as police searched a wooded area for the suspect.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, this marks the ninth mass killing in the U.S. this year—defined as incidents where four or more people are killed. All of these cases involved shootings, with four occurring in just the past 30 days since July 2.
The Montana shooting happened around 10:30 a.m. at the Owl Bar in Anaconda. Authorities confirmed four people died at the scene. The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown, lived next door to the bar. Police said he was last seen in the Stump Town area west of Anaconda.
More than a dozen officers locked down the area while searching for Brown, with a helicopter scanning the nearby mountainside. Witnesses reported seeing officers moving through the trees.
The bar’s owner, David Gwerder, said a bartender and three customers were killed. He believed they were the only ones inside at the time. Police warned that Brown was likely armed.
Brown served in the U.S. Army from 2001 to 2005, including a deployment to Iraq, and later in the Montana National Guard until 2009.
As news of the shooting spread, local businesses locked their doors. A nearby daycare kept children indoors all day, following active shooter protocols.
Anaconda, a town of about 9,000 people, was founded in the late 1800s during the copper mining boom. Residents expressed shock over the violence.
“We’re used to guns in Montana, but for our town to be locked down—everyone’s pretty rattled,” said Barbie Nelson, owner of the Firefly Cafe, which closed early after the shooting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
