Four people were killed in a shooting at a bar in Anaconda, Montana, on Friday, authorities said. A suspect is at large.

The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation confirmed to CBS News that the shooting happened at The Owl Bar in Anaconda at around 10:30 a.m. local time. DCI Administrator Lee Johnson said in a video statement Friday night that the suspect, identified as Michael Paul Brown, walked into the bar and opened fire before fleeing the scene. 

Montana’s Department of Justice confirmed Saturday morning that a bartender and three patrons were killed in the shooting.

Johnson said law enforcement located his vehicle, a white Ford F-150, but Brown was nowhere to be found. Authorities are focusing their search in the mountains just west of Anaconda. 

The agency, which is leading the investigation, didn’t immediately provide details about how the shooting unfolded.

The Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement Department said the suspect was believed to be armed and dangerous. Public records show he lived next to the bar.

“If seen do not approach,” the department said. “Contact 911 for any way to contact Michael Paul Brown.”

Authorities were searching for the suspect west of Anaconda near Stumptown Road and Anderson Ranch Loop Road, the state Division of Criminal Investigation said in a statement.

“We are asking people to please avoid the area,” the agency said.

Anaconda, about 25 miles northwest of Butte, is hemmed in by mountains. The town of about 9,000 people was founded by copper barons who profited from nearby mines in the late 1800s. A smelter stack that’s no longer operational looms over the valley.

The Montana Highway Patrol said there was a heavy law enforcement presence in the area.

The sheriff’s office for neighboring Granite County said on social media that the suspect was wearing a tie-dye shirt, blue jeans and an orange bandana.

The sheriff’s office said the suspect’s house in Anaconda had been cleared by a SWAT team.

Brown served in the U.S. Army as an armor crewman from 2001 to 2005 and deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005, said Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, an Army spokesperson told the AP. Brown was in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to March 2009, Castro said. He left military service in the rank of sergeant.

Congressman Ryan Zinke, one of the state’s two members in the House of Representatives, urged people to stay inside, lock their doors and pay attention to directions from law enforcement officers.

FBI personnel are also responding to the scene “to provide any requested assistance and/or investigative support,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Friday.

Sage Huot, owner of a child care center located a few blocks away from the shooting, told The Associated Press that once she learned of the rampage, she kept the children inside.

“We’re constantly doing practice drills, fire drills and active shooter drills, so we locked down the facility, locked the doors, and we have a quiet spot where we play activities away from all of our windows and doors,” Huot said.

A local newspaper, the Anaconda Leader, which is published twice a week, said on social media that its office was closed and Friday’s edition wouldn’t be delivered until the situation was resolved, but said stories would be posted online.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said he was monitoring the response to the incident.

“Please join Susan and me in praying for the victims, their loved ones, and the brave law enforcement officers responding to this tragedy,” Gianforte said on social media, referring to his wife, Susan Gianforte.

So far in 2025, there have been about 256 mass shootings in the U.S., including Friday’s shooting in Anaconda. In 2024, there were about 503 incidents, according to a CBS News analysis of data from the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident where four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter.

Grace Manthey

contributed to this report.