- yesterday
Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) was joined by Federal and Local law enforcment officials to provide an update on the search for the suspect from Friday's fatal shooting in Anaconda, Montana.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00so good morning today I'm joined by
00:27members of several Montana law enforcement agencies to provide an update on the current
00:32situation in Anaconda following the shooting last Friday before I begin I'd like to take a moment
00:39of silence to acknowledge the loss of four Montanans 59 year old Daniel Edwin Bailey
00:4664 year old Nancy Loretta Kelly 70 year old David Allen Leach and 74 year old Tony Wayne Palm
01:00thank you may God rest their souls and comfort their families at this difficult time I've spoken
01:19with members of the victims families and shared and shared condolences on behalf of the people of
01:25Montana please keep them in your prayers moments ago I received a briefing on the status of the
01:33ongoing investigation and the search for the suspect with me here today our Attorney General
01:40Austin Knutson Montana Division of Criminal Investigation Administrator Lee Johnson Montana
01:46Highway Patrol Major Justin Braun General Mike Morini from the Montana National Guard
01:53Anaconda Deer Lodge Police Chief Bill Sather Anaconda Deer Lodge County Attorney Morgan Smith
02:01U.S. Marshal Craig Anderson and FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Richard Bauer
02:08thank you all for being here according to the Montana Department of Justice on Friday
02:14August 1st around 10 30 45 year old Michael Brown walked into the Al Bar and opened fire killing four
02:23people before fleeing the scene at this time Michael Braun continues to be at large since the tragic event
02:32our Montana law enforcement officers have been unrelenting in their pursuit working around the clock to bring
02:40this suspect Michael Brown to justice for his heinous acts I recently received an update from the Montana
02:48National Guard on their assistance with the search since Friday a helicopter from the Helena Battalion
02:55as well as four soldiers have flown over 19 hours as of Sunday to assist with the search and to provide
03:02transportation of law enforcement personnel into this remote area in the mountains working alongside these folks
03:10standing beside me all partners will continue the pursuit of this criminal once found I have no
03:17doubt that the department Montana Department of Justice will prosecute this killer to the full extent of
03:22the law to bring justice to those grieving the loss of a loved one and solace to members of the
03:29Anaconda community rest assured our brave men and women of law enforcement aren't giving up and I ask you
03:39that you not give up on them either think of them in your prayers and support them and their families as you
03:46can yesterday I spoke with Police Chief Sather under Montana law I'm able to release emergency funds to law
03:56enforcement if local agency requests it this morning I received that request from Anaconda Deer Lodge and moments
04:06ago I signed an executive order to support the efforts of local law enforcement while the state has
04:12already been supporting this investigation with staff and aviation assets this action today will ensure
04:19additional financial resources are available as we continue to track down this criminal in particular
04:26these additional financial resources from the state emergencies response fund will help pay local enforced law
04:35enforcement's overtime and to continue the search at this time I'd like to invite County Attorney
04:41Morgan Smith to fair share a few words on behalf of the chief and the Anaconda community Morgan good afternoon
04:54I'd like to first start out and talk to the families of Daniel David Nancy and Tony our thoughts and prayers
05:03remain with you my office will be reaching out to all of the victim families and want you to know
05:10that there are services and financial assistance that is available through the victim witness advocate
05:15and through the Montana crime victim compensation fund recognizing all that is on your plate right now as
05:21you experience this tragedy if there is assistance that the victim advocate can provide or that my office
05:27can provide we would love to do so to the Anaconda community if I can speak for both chief South there
05:34and myself we understand the desire for more information this manhunt has involved individuals from 38 local state and
05:42federal agencies and coordination of hundreds from all of those agencies has been a very difficult task they are
05:48responding to every call to every tip and they've tied their tirelessly searching the area where the suspect is believed to be
05:56would be I understand the pit in your stomach every time you've heard sirens in our community the last five days I
06:03experienced the same any call that comes in of a potential sighting of Michael Paul Brown or a suspicious person in
06:11an unexpected place or a concern that you can't reach a loved one and you have concern that they have been harmed every
06:17single one of those calls has been responded to and every time those calls come in they're treated as though they are going to be the call that results in the apprehension of Michael Paul Brown
06:26the officer response to these calls has been immense for those of you that have homes or have property in the stumptown
06:33area we hear your call for questions we hear your concerns of access to your property and safety of your homes the agencies that are
06:41working with Anaconda law enforcement are working to set up a process for communication with you so you'll have a clear understanding of your access to your home and to your property
06:49when you're seeing lights and sirens pass your house we're understanding that you want answers
06:56however we ask that you remain patient and know that the investigation is ongoing there's information
07:01law enforcement cannot release to the public for potential of jeopardizing an ongoing investigation
07:06and there's information that law enforcement cannot release for fear of creating additional safety risk
07:10to law enforcement officers or to the community at large when the dust settles and our community is safe
07:16again we will answer all of the questions that we are able to in the meantime we ask that you take
07:21information that you see on social media with a grain of salt we ask that you refrain from sharing
07:25information that you do not know to be true the specific facts that will later be necessary for the
07:31prosecution of this case are not necessarily relevant for the apprehension of Michael Paul Brown nor do they
07:37ensure in keeping the public safe the priority of all of the folks standing here before you is the
07:42apprehension of Michael Paul Brown we ask that you be kind we ask that you look out for your neighbors
07:49and recognize that while state and federal agencies are here and they're working really hard your local
07:54police force and your local dispatchers are working right like right alongside these agencies they're
07:59also continuing to respond and patrol our community respond to 911 calls and remain involved in active ongoing
08:07investigations thank you
08:12thank you morgan now attorney general austin knutson will share more information on the resources available
08:18for reporting a tip to assist in the arrest and capture of this suspect
08:25thank you mr governor i'm attorney general austin knutson uh i want to first say thank you to the governor
08:30uh this release of assets and resources for law enforcement is going to allow us to keep this
08:38this manhunt going uh this is very labor intensive it's very resource intensive these tactical teams
08:44and and the manpower out here uh knowing the state of montana has stepped up and is going to offset some
08:49of those costs is a huge huge uh continuance for us so thank you mr governor i also want to thank the
08:56law enforcement crowd that's here you what you're seeing behind me is tremendous this is this is
09:01nothing short of remarkable for a law enforcement response in the state of montana this is what we
09:06do something bad happens and neighbors respond we've got local agencies we've got county sheriffs
09:12local municipalities but i also want to thank our federal partners we've got the fbi here we've
09:16got the u.s marshal service uh that this allows us to keep more resources focused at catching this
09:23individual uh with that i i want to announce that the u.s marshal service has increased our reward for
09:31any information that will lead to the capture of michael paul brown the u.s marshal service has now put up
09:39ten thousand dollars for any tip that leads to his apprehension the tip line and this is important
09:46one eight seven seven wanted two the number two wanted two and i'll i'll give you the digits one eight
09:55seven seven nine two six eight three three two again there's a ten thousand dollar reward currently
10:05for any information that's going to lead to the apprehension of michael paul brown we want to get
10:10this guy rounded up this is our top focus in the entire state of montana is making sure this
10:16community is safe and getting this fugitive uh brought in one way or the other so again want
10:21to thank all our partners thank my agencies the state agencies the county agencies the city agencies
10:26and our federal partners for being here thank you mr governor thank you attorney general
10:35once again on behalf of the people of montana thank you to all the law enforcement officers and
10:40agencies dedicated to resolving this investigation and search and to the families of those who
10:48lost loved ones may god bless you and keep you at this time i'll open it up for questions i ask that
10:55you please raise your hand and state your name and outlet yes john riley montana television network
11:02i've spoken with numerous residents over the last few days the number one question from all of them
11:06when was the last time michael brown was seen physically was it you know within the last couple
11:12days or was it since the incident yep uh yeah i might ask dci or one of our locals come up and address
11:22this um without stating too much i mean i think the last concrete time we can say for sure he was seen
11:29was friday now there is certainly evidence uh in our search area that that he's present and that
11:37you know we're we're hunting in the right haystack uh but at this time to answer your question as
11:42specifically as i can the last confirmed absolutely sure sighting of michael paul brown would have been
11:49friday yes stefan here at shaley regular montana public radio i understand we've been talking about
11:56the stumptown road area can you be any more specific about where search efforts are concentrated right
12:02now is there you know a parameter of search area where okay i'm i'm deferring all specific investigation
12:08stuff to the he or dci so they want to so lee johnson from dci will answer hey good morning so the
12:16question is essentially how large is the perimeter how focused is it we've gone everywhere from a
12:24focused perimeter based on evidence that we're seeing in the area to a much larger area that is
12:29protective of the residents up there and obviously to what is reasonable for where a human being could
12:37possibly be located or could move to and so when we look at all of those options with resources available
12:44the type of terrain um it's very challenging so we have expanded our perimeters to look in different
12:49areas around square footage or i i can't provide that detail right now that's operational so i appreciate
12:57the question okay thank you other questions yes so has there been any evidence that he's broken into
13:05cabins or homes for food any such evidence
13:13question is uh is there anybody any any evidence or indication that our suspect has broken in any
13:18cabins or homes in the area uh the answer quickest answer is no we don't have any evidence that that's
13:23happened uh residents are obviously being cooperative there's been sweeps uh there's a number of cabins
13:29up there they've all been swept and checked uh other assets up there but the quick answer to your
13:35question is no yes dj bauer non-stop local uh what is the federal government's involvement in this case
13:43look like going forward in terms of the search for michael brown
13:50come on up you can share the podium yeah this is uh richard bear fbi along with our us marshals
13:56counterparts we've been here since the onset of the investigation and so we've provided significant
14:02resources tactically investigatively with our intelligence program so we're here to see it
14:07through with our partners and stand side by side with them and driven you can the federal government
14:11to help keep this community safe is there still uh air support for the search that's correct
14:18and i just want to add uh again as a shout out to all of the members federal state local the
14:24cooperation between law enforcement agencies has really been spectacular uh there's no friction and
14:31uh they've been doing they've been relentless in their pursuit of this uh suspect yes
14:36josh margolis nbc montana were there obviously there are the four fatalities were any injuries
14:41reported during the uh initial this uh active shooter situation sure sure so um to be honest it was it
14:54was real time as it was occurring um there was basically communication to a number of locations um
14:59courthouse uh hospital things of that nature indicating a belief that a lockdown was potentially
15:04necessary um and then honestly from there uh what happened was a large law enforcement response and
15:11that communication was then largely handled through local media um as well as uh online presence um
15:16and then updates have been provided since that time uh when able through both the use of social
15:21media as well as notice to the media yeah john john mtn news i was gonna ask uh when you mentioned
15:29real time response do we know uh was this a standoff situation and can you explain how
15:37maybe he did he leave the bar the suspect prior to police arriving what do we know as far as how he was
15:44able to kind of slip through or was as far as the sure without uh sharing because this is ongoing
15:51there's a lot of information that we're not going to be in a position to disclose uh once mr brown uh was
15:56leaving i can tell you that the law enforcement response to uh realization that he was leaving
16:01was nearly immediate um and so there was no gap in time where uh he was located and then uh chased
16:09a pursuit ensued but outside of that i wouldn't be able to provide any more specifics okay yes uh john
16:15reilly uh again uh are you operating under the belief that he is still armed like that yeah
16:23we have to john we we absolutely have to assume that he's armed and extremely dangerous
16:29uh this is clearly an unstable individual he's he had access to firearms numerous firearms in his home
16:34and he used a firearm to commit a really heinous series of of crimes um we don't have specific
16:42information but look he was able to escape and get up in the mountains uh we are absolutely operating
16:49under the assumption that he is armed and extremely dangerous is it just a follow-up question the weapon
16:54that is believed to have been used in the murders has that been recovered or is that still i'm not
16:58going to comment on that because that is critical to an investigation and we're not going to release
17:03that johnny the mtn news did i did he did the suspect i know you guys probably search his residence
17:11and stuff like did he leave any kind of note or send any kind of message on social media or anywhere
17:18prior to the attack also that would be part of an investigative file we're we're just not going
17:24to comment on that okay uh look i i think it's important to know that we're still taking this
17:50extremely seriously this is still the number one law enforcement effort in the state of montana but
17:55look facts the fact is you have a lot of out of jurisdiction law enforcement professionals who are
18:01here they've got home counties they've got home uh hometowns that they have to go in and they have to
18:07enforce the law there too uh we also run up against just resources and logistics uh there's a lot of
18:14manpower a lot of overtime being put in up here uh that money has to come from somewhere and it's not
18:20reasonable for us to expect you know petroleum county to come over here and put in the time
18:25that they have uh and and and not have that time compensated so those are the kind of things that
18:30we've been working through through the weekend i cannot thank the governor enough for the executive
18:35order that he signed today freeing up emergency funds that is absolutely huge and a game changer for us
18:42because that allows us to keep this search going at a higher level uh so i i'm hesitant to say it's
18:49going to be a big transition we're keeping our our all the assets uh all the resources that have
18:56been here are going to keep going being up there uh we just we've got teams cycling in and out they
19:01they've got home home territories they have to go home and take care of as well okay we'll take two
19:05more yes jake ellison for the new york times i noticed that stump town road is open now so can you just
19:12talk a little bit about why that road is open and what you what you expect people who use that road or
19:19who live there or didn't have homes off of that road how do you expect them to uh yeah the county
19:25attorney uh smith addressed that a little bit uh there's a process being set up to allow residents
19:31uh to to get back in they have animals up there they have personal belongings they need to get back
19:36to their homes as long as their safety is not being compromised in that process is underway now to
19:40get that put in place i don't know if you want to add anything that's basically what we know at this time
19:45okay yes um i understand that this is probably a number that changes but i'm curious like today
19:51how many people are searching in this area you know how many personal are searching how many
19:56much of their dogs how many dogs are up there right now
20:02i'm going to defer this probably to lee with dci um look i'm reluctant to put out there publicly how many
20:09canines we have up on the hill searching we we don't know if if people are communicating with mr
20:14brown we have no reason to think so uh but at this time i'm reluctant to tell you exactly how many
20:19assets we have up there we can probably give you a rough a rough overall number of law enforcement
20:24presence at the time but aside from that that's as far as we're going to go lee do you want to have
20:28anything to add to that uh yeah just to follow up on that so we scale our teams appropriately for what the
20:34mission is and we have anywhere from four person teams to as many as 12 and that's just one team
20:41so several teams depending on exactly what we're trying to accomplish but i can tell you that we are
20:48inserting substantial resources that are scaled appropriately i don't want to talk about strict
20:54numbers from which agencies but i can tell you that we're maximizing the resources that are available
21:00and i would just add that that was the whole point of this executive order is to make sure the resource
21:07sources are available there so we can continue to pay overtime to make sure the law enforcement stays
21:12on the job until this individual is apprehended we'll take one last question yes uh family members of
21:18michael brown had reached out to us and said that he was denied uh help from the va is this something that
21:23you people are able to confirm or deny yeah under uh federal law we can't comment on an individual
21:30uh patient uh and i don't know if there's additional information you can add about local things but
21:36we're not at liberty to release that so i mean i i think that's that's a question for the va i we we
21:41just don't have that information we don't have access to it that's frankly it's not cogent to our
21:46investigation at this point okay thank you all we'll keep you posted thank you thank you
Recommended
1:11:54
1:53:07
1:16:27
0:40
1:38:33