Summit County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Skyler Talbot confirmed a large law enforcement presence on Interstate 80 early Monday afternoon following a reported sighting of Michael Paul Brown, 45, who is suspected of fatally shooting four people at a bar in Anaconda, Montana, on Friday.
“Our office, along with other (law enforcement) responded and made contact with the individual,” Talbot said around 3 p.m., an hour and a half after the report was filed. “We verified that it was in fact not the wanted individual, and no further police action was taken.”
Earlier in the afternoon, Talbot confirmed that patrol units were gathering near mile marker 186 to search for a “suspicious person.” He later stated that a construction worker reported a possible sighting of Brown around 1:21 p.m., resulting in a large response near the Wyoming border.
Brown, a former US soldier, is accused of killing four people at a Montana bar on Friday, according to the Associated Press. He allegedly entered The Owl Bar in Anaconda, Montana, a small town in the state’s southwest corner, with a rifle “that police believe was his personal weapon” and fatally shot a female bartender and three male patrons.
“He fled in a white pickup that he later ditched and stole a car stocked with clothes, shoes and other supplies,” according to the AP.
Law enforcement officials in Montana have launched a manhunt to locate and apprehend Brown, which includes teams from local, state, and federal agencies. Specific neighborhoods with ties to Brown in the 9,000-person town were put on lockdown Friday, but the restrictions were lifted on Saturday.
The Associated Press identified the victims as 59-year-old Daniel Edwin Baillie, 64-year-old Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 70-year-old David Allen Leach, and 74-year-old Tony Wayne Palm.
Brown was an armor crewman in the Army from 2001 to 2005, with deployments to Iraq from early 2004 to March 2005, according to the Associated Press on Monday afternoon. From 2006 to March 2009, he served in the Montana National Guard, rising to the rank of sergeant.
“Brown lived next door to The Owl Bar, according to owner David Gwerder, who was not present during the shooting Friday morning,” the newspaper reported. “It was widely believed that Brown knew at least some of the victims.”
Brown’s niece, Clare Boyle, also told the Associated Press that Brown has struggled with mental illness for many years.
There is a $7,500 reward for any information leading to Brown’s capture.
