Dec. 18 (UPI) — Police in Montana fatally shot a man suspected of killing three people at a casino early Tuesday, authorities said.
In a press conference, Jeff Newton, investigative services bureau captain for the Great Falls Police Department, said officers were called to the Emerald City Casino in Great Falls, about 165 miles east of Missoula, at about 2 a.m. to “check the welfare of a male bleeding from the face and asking for help.”
Police arrived at the casino to find three people dead and a fourth person was later located at a local hospital receiving treatment for a gunshot wound, he said, adding he is listed as in stable condition.
Agents with the police department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals then initiated a search for the suspect, locating him armed at about 5:45 a.m.
“Gunshots were fired and the suspect was fatally wounded,” the GFPD said in a press release.
Newton said there is no current threat to the community, the investigation is ongoing and the identities of the victims will be released at “an appropriate time.”
GFPD Public Information Officer Lt. Doug Otto said the public in the immediate area were not notified of the situation due to how quickly it unfolded.
“The entire situation was very dynamic and the suspect was moving around quite a bit from what our investigators gathered and so we moved to a lot of different areas of the city, and it was a very rapid event and things unfolded very quickly,” said Otto, adding that the police’s main focus was to capture the suspect to protect the public.
Lincoln Elementary School, located close to the incident, was closed Tuesday as police conducted its investigation.
