ANACONDA — The seven-day manhunt for the Anaconda shooting suspect appears to have come to a close Friday. According to Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton, law enforcement has taken Michael Brown, 45, into custody alive. MTN has also received similar reports from residents in the area of the search.
This is a developing story, and we will provide updates as soon as they become available.
(Local, state and government officials provided an update earlier this week.)
Brown is accused of killing four people at The Owl Bar in Anaconda on Friday.
According to the Montana Department of Justice, at about 10:30 a.m. on Friday, August 1, 2025, a man walked into the Owl Bar in Anaconda and began shooting, killing four people. The man then fled the scene in a pickup truck to the west of town, into the surrounding mountains.
The victims were identified Sunday as Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64, Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59, David Allen Leach, 70, and Tony Wayne Palm, 74.
Hundreds of personnel from more than 30 agencies participated in the manhunt for Brown over the last week.
Brown’s family told MTN he was an Army veteran who suffered from significant mental health challenges, including schizophrenia and PTSD.
His family told MTN they had sought help for Brown through both the Montana VA and the Montana State Hospital, but were not able to get assistance.
According to Lt. Ruth Castro, an Army spokesperson, Brown served in the U.S. Army as an armor crewman from 2001 to 2005 and was deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005.
Brown was in the National Guard from 2006 to March 2009, Castro said. He left military service with the rank of sergeant.
