Kyle White thought the noises outside his downtown Anaconda home last Friday morning were the sounds of routine construction. Then his police scanner started crackling.
“In two or three minutes, there were calls going out, and [police] were here just like that,” White told Montana Free Press at his house Sunday.
White lives a few doors down from The Owl Bar, where law enforcement says longtime Anaconda resident Michael Brown opened fire around 10:30 a.m. Friday, killing bartender Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64, and patrons Tony Wayne Palm, 74, David Allen Leach, 70, and Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59.
Mary Jane Rangitsch, who has lived in Anaconda for 33 years, watched the police swarm the scene from her window opposite the bar. Brown, though, sped away in a stolen white Ford-150 pickup truck and remained at large Monday morning. Authorities later discovered the abandoned vehicle.
With Brown still not in custody and believed to be armed, Rangitsch said she felt “just a little unsettled. But I don’t feel fearful at all.”
“The neighborhood is wonderful, and I raised my family here,” she said.
Dave Gwerder, owner of the Owl, spent Sunday afternoon at the bar. He wore a chest holster that held a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun. Anacondans stopped by to offer Gwerder condolences and support. Flowers and cards piled up in front of the bar’s front entrance.
“It’s gonna be a long healing process for a lot of people,” Gwerder said.
Gwerder said Brown lived adjacent to the Owl and frequented the bar. The motivation for the shooting remains unclear, although residents said Brown struggled with mental illness after returning from his service in the U.S. military.
“Nobody knows why, including me. As far as I know, everybody got along with him,” Gwerder said.
According to Anacondans who knew him, Brown is familiar with the wilderness northwest of Anaconda, and they suspect that’s where he may be hiding out.
Lane “Shorty” Ruegamer, a regular at the Owl, said he doubted Brown would attempt a return to Anaconda.
“He knows that every person down at the bottom of that hill has guns, and there’s no doubt in my mind that every person does,” Ruegamer said.
As law enforcement in tactical gear searched an area near Stumptown Road where they believed Brown might be Sunday, about 30 community members gathered for a vigil in downtown Anaconda’s Kennedy Commons. Pentecostal preacher Ted Cox led a prayer for the victims and for Brown.
“God bless, strengthen and comfort the families of the deceased. And also even the family of Michael,” Cox said.
Similarly, Rev. Dougald McCallum dedicated his Sunday Mass at Anaconda’s Holy Family Church to those involved in the tragedy, encouraging parishioners to approach the tragedy “from the vantage point of mercy.”
“There’s a lot of mental illness in the world,” McCallum said. “And the more you live, the more you realize how much there is.”
JFK Bar, one of the four within two blocks of the Owl, had been busy since the Friday morning shooting. A shuffleboard, pool table, small casino, countertop and a few long tables make up the inside of the corner bar. On Friday evening, the crowded bar fell quiet during the evening news about the tragedy next door.
Jill Rowles, a teacher and JFK bartender, was a good friend of Kelley since they met at the Owl several years ago. Kelley previously worked as a cancer nurse and later became a bartender like her parents, who had owned a local bar called The Mill.
Kelley taught Rowles how to play cribbage on a trip to Salmon, Idaho. Away from home and unable to locate any dice for the game, Kelley fashioned some out of Whiteclaw boxes and rocks.
“That will be my most memorable moment with Nancy,” Rowles said.
Other JFK bartenders and patrons shared stories about the deceased throughout the weekend. A block away from the Owl, which remains closed, JFK became a space for remembering, reflecting and reliving.
“We’re going to do things and raise money for people,” said Anacondan Randy Josephson while at JFK.
“This community will come together, and we’ll take care of each other. We’ll pull together — every one of us — over this situation.”
LATEST STORIES
Federal bill boosting voter registration requirements passes U.S. House
A Republican push to ratchet up voter ID requirements nationwide has passed the House with the support of Montana’s representatives and will now head to the Senate. The SAVE America Act is intended to make voter registration more secure — and too difficult for many Americans to comply with, opponents say.
Montana schools are struggling to pass funding levies
Data compiled by the Montana School Boards Association indicates fewer districts are running local-option levies — and fewer are getting a thumbs-up from voters.
Daines gains federal support to strip wilderness potential from Montana sites
Forest Service, BLM officials concur: WSA status not warranted for Middle Fork Judith, Wales Creek and Hoodoo landscapes.