Montana governor Greg Gianforte on Tuesday signed an executive order freeing up more resources for local law enforcement as they searched a mountainous area for a former US soldier suspected of killing four people at a bar on 1 August.
The search for Michael Paul Brown stretched into its fifth day with more than three dozen law enforcement agencies helping with an effort that Montana’s top officials described during a news conference as the highest priority in the state.
Meanwhile, the man wanted in the July killings of the parents, grandmother and uncle of an infant found abandoned in a front yard in western Tennessee has been arrested, police said.
Austin Robert Drummond faces four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping and weapons offenses, according to officials.
In Montana, a team with the state’s national guard has flown nearly 20 hours since the killings at the Owl Bar in Anaconda, looking for any clues for Brown’s whereabouts as an undisclosed number of officers searched on foot.
“Rest assured, our brave men and women of law enforcement aren’t giving up, and I ask that you not give up on them either,” Gianforte said.
Authorities allege Brown, 45, fatally shot four people at the Owl Bar with a rifle that police believe was his personal weapon. They allege he fled in a white pickup that he later ditched and stole another white vehicle stocked with clothes, shoes and camping supplies.
A female bartender and three male patrons were killed. They have been identified as Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64; Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59; David Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74.
The shooting rattled Anaconda, a tight-knit town of about 9,000 people. And many residents remain on high alert with the suspect still at large.
Montana attorney general Austin Knudsen reiterated Tuesday that authorities are operating under the assumption that Brown is armed and extremely dangerous.
Without providing more details, Knudsen said there’s evidence that authorities are searching in the right area. About 22 square miles (57 square kilometers) of forest south-west of Anaconda have been closed to the public by the national forest system as the search continues. Knudsen added that it does not appear that Brown has broken into any cabins or homes in the area to get food or additional supplies.
Knudsen and investigators declined to share the number of law enforcement personnel active in the search Tuesday. Canine detection units and drones equipped with heat-detection technology were also being used in the search, they said.
Federal authorities were offering a reward of up to $10,000 for any information leading to Brown’s capture.
Family members have said Brown has struggled with mental illness for years, and they had sought help for him.
Brown, who lived next door to the Owl Bar, served in the army as an armor crew member from 2001 to 2005 and deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005. He also was in the Montana national guard from 2006 to 2009.
In Tennessee, two men other than Drummond had been arrested on allegations that they assisted him, according to investigators.
The victims were found dead in Tiptonville, Tennessee, about 40 miles from where the baby at the center of the case was left, officials have said. They were identified as James M Wilson, 21; Adrianna Williams, 20; Cortney Rose, 38; and Braydon Williams, 15.
Police have said Drummond had a relationship with the victims and that the killings were targeted.
Drummond was taken into custody amid a search on Tuesday, police in Jackson said in a social media post. His arrest came shortly after police had warned residents of Jackson, which is about 74 miles (119km) away from the crime scene in Tiptonville, to stay inside their homes, having received a report that he was spotted in a neighborhood.
An automated message from the local public defender’s office said to call back later.
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