Public sentiment surrounding the Anaconda Bar shooting reflects a profound concern about gun violence and mental health issues in American society. Commenters express disbelief that such an incident could happen in a seemingly quiet place like Montana, coupled with frustration over systemic failures in gun control and mental health treatment. Many highlight the need for better media reporting and deeper societal reflections on the violence plaguing the nation.

Mental Health Advocacy Groups

Gun Control Advocates

Veteran Affairs Administration

Local Law Enforcement

My son works about five minutes away, so naturally I called him. It sound like there was a dispute between a patron who brought his dog into the bar and the owner or bartender. The guy shot at least four people and my son said there are four confirmed deaths. He had names but I’m not going to share that stuff at the moment, doesn’t feel right.

Playful_Switch8658

https://preview.redd.it/n8zhwda95hgf1.jpeg?width=1284&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=d2fa34bade5a5b13db45241d0a6c081554143ccf

Here is a picture of the suspect - keep an eye out for him - stay safe out there

Calm_Evening_4534

Four people shot at the Owl. The suspect is heading to Georgetown Lake in a chase.

Gabe_Newells_Penis

Mike is a neighbor. He has horrific PTSD, and he is also mentally unstable. We saw this coming years ago, but the government did nothing.  My best friend died today.  This sucks!

https://preview.redd.it/4tidmhi31igf1.jpeg?width=1722&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=b9b2657dd2b61095ae9e55e982aa7a83dc07dee1

ahwatukeepete

Does anyone know if there were more people shot or was it 4 people all together? I have been hearing a lot of different things from different people (including a gentleman at town pump here in butte who knew the shooter before the name was public and he said that there were more people shot but I digress). 

This is all so tragic and I hope he is found soon.

purplefuzz22

UPDATED: Shooting in Anaconda Leaves Four Dead; Shelter-in-Place Lifted but Caution Urged

ANACONDA, MT – A tragic shooting Friday morning shook the heart of Anaconda, where four people were reported killed at the Owl Bar on 3rd Street. The alleged gunman, believed to be armed with an AR-15-style rifle, sparked a rapid and heavy response from law enforcement and a flood of reactions from stunned residents.

“I heard he killed four at the Owl Bar,” one person messaged. “Seven state and local police cars are circling.” Multiple witnesses and local chatter confirmed law enforcement locked down parts of the town while they attempted to locate and contain the shooter. Eyewitnesses reported sirens, street closures, and police surrounding a residence where the individual was believed to be hiding.
According to one source, “Police have the man in his house and are trying to de-escalate the situation.” Another added, “Scanner traffic says the shooter is headed to Philipsburg.”
The Anaconda community sprang into digital action, with dozens of residents sharing real-time updates, support, and concern. “We’re at my mom’s in Anaconda taking care of her,” one woman posted. “This is so scary.” Others noted the personal impact: “This one is too close to home.”
Confusion swirled as some reports indicated the shelter-in-place order had been lifted, while others stated it was reinstated. A local observer warned, “Yes, that is true, we are back to shelter in place.”
As of this writing, there has been no formal press release from law enforcement confirming the shooter’s identity or arrest. Names are being withheld pending confirmation.
Officials are urging residents to remain calm, stay indoors, and avoid interfering with ongoing police operations. “Be safe and stay low,” one community member urged online.
This developing tragedy has brought a flood of grief and concern to the tight-knit town. Please continue to monitor verified news sources and law enforcement channels for further updates.

If you are in the area:

• Do not approach police perimeters

• Avoid the vicinity of 3rd Street and Ash

• Report any relevant information to local authorities immediately

firewall666

What’s happening is our country has a huge mental health crisis that’s pushing people to their complete mental end. A simple dispute ended in the murder of four bystanders by a man who has clearly been mentally broken by our system.

Montana has the highest gun ownership in the union, a fairly high homicide rate and the highest suicide rate in the country. Pair that with the deteriorating conditions of the economy, basic health services and a lack of belief the future will get better…well, the shootings that happen regularly in other states will inevitably find their way here.

As grim as it may sound it’s likely more people will be pushed to their limit and commit similar murders even in Montana, whether pre meditated or not. 

Just the state of the country atm

AdLive9184

[https://www.krtv.com/news/montana-and-regional-news/several-people-shot-in-anaconda](https://www.krtv.com/news/montana-and-regional-news/several-people-shot-in-anaconda)

Manatee59715

Panazara

https://preview.redd.it/1od6l1dz7ngf1.jpeg?width=1179&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=41de1c174703ad8aad1e86ebdad4bd0951e9c8bb

tumsmama

https://www.newsweek.com/anaconda-shooting-montana-owl-bar-deaths-update-2107786

Proditude

https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/casualties-reported-after-active-shooter-situation-in-anaconda

Really, why are people so shocked? It was just a matter of time before this country’s gun madness struck in Montana. They’ll be more until this nation comes to grips with it’s gun mania.

hikerjer

No idea. Provide some context for us? You heard about a shooting in Anaconda?

montalaskan

It's not helpful to comment "I heard..." without telling us who you heard from. 'Trust me bro' makes your info useless and possibly dangerous.

four_oh_sixer

Where were all the good guys with the guns?

Agitated_Presence994

Violet624

6 or 7 dead according to facebook commenters, but no official information and very conflicting reports from people on what’s happening 🙃

tandsrox101

ItsMrChristmas

You guys are all alike. Someone has a different political view than you and you think they don’t belong here. Ya know, much as it may pain you, I think I’ll stay and exercise my right to work to change rings for the better. What are you going to do, shoot me?

HuntinginColter

TacoTacoBheno

https://abc7.com/amp/post/anaconda-montana-shooting-officials-search-mountain-area-ex-us-army-soldier-owl-bar-suspect-michael-paul-brown/17402907/

This article is from 4 hours ago. Don't think so!

Sudden_Display6026

HyphyMikeyy

Here's some more on this Guy, Brown, from his niece and family. also the picture of him leaving the scene

[https://www.kbzk.com/news/montana-news/family-of-anaconda-bar-shooting-suspect-shares-his-mental-health-struggles](https://www.kbzk.com/news/montana-news/family-of-anaconda-bar-shooting-suspect-shares-his-mental-health-struggles)

AffectionateServe551

Stay strapped or (potentially) get capped.

DanielGoon69

Anxious-Flatworm-455

True_Past_5742

Maybe if those cops had more camo, command post trailers, APCs, and body armor they could find the crazy man who everyone agrees is no longer at the bar.

Copropositor

I hope the catch the coward soon. The article isn't saying what led up to the shooting. I read somewhere that he brought a dog into the bar and there was a confrontation with the bartender. Does anyone have more information?

luckymountain

Unfair-Beginning-377

https://preview.redd.it/x8elw1k95ngf1.png?width=1080&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=d85b1804148906faffd02e41fd6de609e0efbc45

showmenemelda

I don’t think most people understand how impossible it is to get someone committed to a mental hospital against their will. You basically need the local county attorney or city prosecutor to bring the petition, and most don’t want to for very good reasons. It clashes with our due process rights because it’s essentially imprisonment. And a lot of local prosecutors have never dealt with such a petition and don’t want to. A family can try to bring a petition themselves, but courts look upon that with extreme prejudice because trying to lock up a family member is a bad look.

montwhisky

There’s not enough information provided to determine whether the VA failed him or not. Not every Veteran qualifies for coverage, and the amount of coverage depends on percentage of disability. If he was in the VA system and receiving care, it’s unlikely that he was removed. It doesn’t work that way.

Note - I am a disabled Veteran and have been treated for PTSD. The information in this article is very incomplete.

KJHagen

This article paints part of the picture and explains just enough for people to assume “the system” failed him. I need more context and a broader understanding of what led up to this tragic incident. As a Veteran myself with my own PTSD experience, I do continue to get treatment because it’s a choice I made to make myself better, not only for the sake of my mental health but my family and friends. 

I empathize with the individual, but let’s not forget four people are dead by his actions. What led him to do it is what needs to be addressed first before you go down a rabbit hole of past challenges in his life.

ChuckNorrisUSAF

Not to get too political, but DOGE got rid of tens of thousands of VA staff this year.


From how they vote, the average Montanan wants vets to die under bridges and in VA parking lots.

Copropostis

This is why I try to be nice to everyone irl. You really don’t know what someone else is going through 

MyLittleDiscolite

Need more care for vets.    At least a group that can help with crisis intervention.     Hang in there troops.

No-Fail7484

Don't blame the VA. Blame Republicans who vote against veterans care.

OrneryError1

Reporter: "Mr. Sheehy, what are your thoughts on cuttting the VA with the mental health crisis among veterans ongoing?"

Sheehy: "Boys should not be allowed to play on girls' soccer teams."

Reporter: "That does not address my question."

Sheehy: "Cops are good."

Reporter: "What?'.

Sheehy: "Can we stop the woke? Bad guys are bad guys."

Reporter: "So the VA cuts, do you still support them?"

Sheehy: "Murica".

bornlasttuesday

Politicians voted into office who approved of cuts to the VA at all levels of government also are to blame. 

Check your representatives’ votes. Federal, state, and county.

Stardustchaser

Sheehy doesn’t care about veterans because veterans are people. He cares about dollars.

Duganz

As an ER provider I see this a lot. Families come in with loved ones with mental health struggles, and they are very concerned-looking for help. Unfortunately, if they are not actively a threat to themselves or someone else there’s not much the healthcare system can do. We can’t take away somebody’s freedom because they “might“ do something.

I’ve had patients be convincing and sincere, look me dead in the eye and contract for safety that they aren’t going to hurt themselves or anyone else and then leave the emergency department and suicide.

Dealing with folks with mental health issues is a real heartbreaker. I feel for everyone involved in this situation.

Numinous1971

*sigh*

"The VA said he no longer qualified for assistance with obtaining prescriptions and help." - absolutely fucking false. There's no reason any veteran would suddenly *not* be eligible for medications with the VA. **Especially** if he had documented schizophrenia and service-connected PTSD. This is bullshit to the highest degree. Veterans don't just get kicked off their VA healthcare without some extenuating circumstance, such as non-compliance or loss of contact, which I could absolutely see happening from a schizophrenic individual. 

Emergency mental health care is provided by the VA to **all** veterans regardless of healthcare enrollment status thanks to the 2018 VA Mission Act. Dude could walk up in any fucking VA hospital at any fucking time and receive emergency psychiatric help on the fucking spot without an appointment, paperwork, or insurance. Try being uninsured and walking into a civilian hospital with that same situation. Tell me which one actually helps you and which one doesn't dump you in a fucking cab with a "follow up with your PCP" after a few hours.

The VA is everything healthcare in America should be. It may not be perfect, but it's a fuck lot better than the alternative. Free at the point of service. No co-pays for service connected conditions. No bullshit fighting with insurance networks. Don't have to wait for insurance to authorize things. No choosing between rent and refilling your meds, the vast majority of which come right in the mail. No fighting with billing departments. You walk in, get your meds, walk the fuck out.

Don't dump this mass murder at the feet of the VA. There's a lot of questions to ask after this, absolutely, but this was not a failure on the VA's behalf. It's interesting that the niece would cast blame on a healthcare system that effectively treats millions of veterans living with PTSD and other mental conditions (many of which *don't* commit mass murders in bars) rather than look at herself and ask why she was okay with Brown possessing firearms when he thought he was a fucking time traveling wizard and was worried he would snap. Mindblowing, actually.

TL;DR - This article is bullshit, VA Healthcare isn't perfect but it is largely great and not at fault here, maybe people should be more careful believing shit that extended family members say when they're just repeating what they were told by mass murdering schizophrenic individuals in the midst of a delusion.

-- Yes, I'm a little heated by this. I'm a veteran myself. My VA Healthcare is exemplary and I sincerely wish everyone in America could have the same benefits I do. I know many people here are trying to spin this politically and associate this with the cuts from Trump, which are frustrating, but I want to make sure we aren't demonizing our great VA employees in the process of this. They care. I've seen it firsthand - but you have to extend the olive branch to them. If you refuse meds, break contact and don't comply with treatment, they cannot help you. I suspect that is what happened here.

ConditionZeroOne

The title to this post is sensational to say the least. The linked article is super vague about any VA involvement. As noted by others, the VA doesn't just cut off care. In fact, unlike like literally all private sector institutions, the VA can't just refuse service to veterans.

purrthem

The bit of road in anaconda that is 25 mph probably finally drove someone to murder

Atomic-pangolin

As a combat veteran with issues of my own, I think it's unfair to blame a Federal system for the actions of an individual. There's no way violence against fellow citizens honors our oath to defend and uphold the Constitution. The VA is a tool to help us with the consequences of our sacrifice, not a scapegoat for our criminal behavior.

Ok-Communication1149

I waited 4 months during a very trying period for my appointment to get mental help, only for them to cancel the day before the appointment. They rescheduled, guess when? 5 more fcking months🤬 

I waited nearly a year for help at a stage in life where it was a battle all day, every minute to not just say fck it and end it all. By the time I finally got help, I was numb. This country has a serious mental health care crisis

WaterWurkz

So according to this article from the NYT, he refused treatment. [https://nyti.ms/4mpcGOA](https://nyti.ms/4mpcGOA)

Everyone was taking the nieces quote as gospel, but we really dont know the circumstances.

https://preview.redd.it/c8r6ny0ewtgf1.png?width=1280&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=5eac148b8382110b35903ae78592a911fd0392ef

mtgriz87

Governor Gianforte just signed a bill in May to BAN the state from passing laws that would make it easier to take guns out of mentally ill people’s hands.  Yes, instead of passing a red flag law the retards that run our state passed a law to ban red flag laws.  Congrats!

Gulp-then-purge

Just serving doesn’t qualify you for health care benefits.  If you don’t receive an honorable discharge you are disqualified.  You have to apply and help the VA get your records.

Then if you are eligible you have to be compliant with appointments and medications or it doesn’t do any good.  Guess who are the most non-compliant patients?

No medical facility is going to lock you up unless you an are a danger to people.  The patient has to be honest about danger to themselves.

If a person is mentally unstable enough to need a guardian the only procedures are applying through the courts.  If no family or friend wants that responsibility then it isn’t going to happen.  My experience with a parent with dementia was disheartening and confusing and impossible to work through the court system.  Two different lawyers told me local judges don’t want to take away the person’s civil rights by restricting their freedoms.  ☹️

Montana VA...omg where do I start. When I first walked into Fort Harrison Clinic, I was greeted by a few fellow vets. The first thing they asked me if I was lost. Then they said I looked too young to be seen there. Yes, I was denied proper care because I was too young. So I called the VA crisis line. Asked them if they could fill a script for  Ativan. Their response was, no we don't usually prescribe that (I go to a private provider who saved my life as do a few other vets who the VA denied care). When I asked the crisis line person why, there was no logical response. Then, the person said the VA approval rate is over 60 percent. I laughed and said that's because 20 of us a day committing suicide can't complain. They didn't do a damn thing for me calling the crisis line. I knew I was all alone. This fella here could have been on meds that the VA won't prescribe or canceled it after a time, which is normal for them. The general public has no idea the VA can't or won't use meds they deem useless. If my boy here was scitzo, then there is almost a guarantee he was denied those drugs because of VA policy. Again, the general public has no clue about this. I could go on and on. Many of us know what to do to get that suicide number down to near 0, but the VA fights it all the way. When they spend half to 3/4 of their weekly meetings discussing policy that has nothing to do with vets, you know where the problem is.

Quirky-Explorer9779

This guy is a shithead murderer.   Everyone crying VA failure or veteran mental health is just slapping the thousands of veterans who don’t murder people, in the face. There are problems with the VA care but anything like this is on the individual.  There is care out there for those that need it but THEY must take steps to get it. Too many look for help but it doesn’t come in the form they want so they stop looking and just hide under “I’m a veteran, it’s not my fault.”

SouthernResponse4815

This makes me want to work for the VA to hopefully help change some things, my God. Lord have mercy. This government's colossal failure to their veterans for decades now is a crime against humanity.

And he probably will end up ending himself out there somewhere just like a vet does, what is it - every 22 min??, across this country every damn day. For someone else to find and clean up. And the family to wonder what they could've done different. Ask me because I know, not once but twice.

Yet these lying back stabbing politicians are gobbling up money like there's no tomorrow and selling us out left and right up down and center. It's as if their only ambition now is to come up with more creative and insane ways to screw us over and get more money for themselves. It's not partisan either it's absolutely every single one of them. All politicians are scummy parasite robber barons.

I know that was quite the rant and pls don't anybody let it spark any unhealthy rage in you if you're already fired up too. But it's the sad truth and it needs to be said and something be done.

When are we as a people going to do something about all the b.s.

Everyday the headlines show us how it does affect us personally. That could've been any bar anywhere. And where is all our damn money going?? Certainly not the VA or anywhere it really needs to.

RIP to the victims and may the families involved find peace and comfort.

No_Amount5910

My Montana VA counselor would fall asleep. My group had the Rexford Bench shooter from last year. They constantly fail many Vets. Absolute trash treatment, good chance he wouldn't have done any better with them...

Idwellinthemountains

My mother, a veteran, got a call from Sheehy that asked “does Sheehy being a Veteran improve your chances of voting for him or not?” And she said absolutely not. They were silent for a second and actually asked why. She said something along the lines of him not being a good guy. 

Anyways his whole campaign didn’t make sense to me since TESTER IS A VETERAN TOO

realwaffletaco

From all these comments, I gather that veterans can only go to the VA for health care, they're not allowed to go any other health care professional?

ResponsibleBank1387

Thanks Trump administration for cutting budgets

SGI256

Only going to get worse.Tru.p been getting the VA.

denn1959-Public_396

Or perhaps, he didn't want to go along, or attend any meetings or take his meds?

Nobody can be forced into MH, except for those that have been committed and locked up.

Flovilla

This is just another casualty of war. It’s too bad the United States failed him under this administration after he put his life on the line for this country. And even worse that he took 4 lives down with him. I wouldn’t be surprised if they find him dead by his own hand. Awful, awful story all around.

Ashamed-Release-4927

He got schizophrenia from serving in the Army?

rawb20

Don't hold your breath. Sheehy is too busy kissing JD Vance's phony hillbilly ass in Big Sky. I write him almost every week on a variety of Montana issues, including healthcare funding. His responses look like an intern used Chat GPT. This state's rural healthcare is about to get even worse due to Trump's bloviated bill. Rural hospitals and health clinics will close.

RavenWritingQueen

kkF6XRZQezTcYQehvybD

This is truly devastating. The VA failed him!!

Bright-Reality452

This is heartbreaking.  Thanks for sharing.  

As someone with plenty of mental illness in my family... this totally strikes home.

Represent403

A manhunt is underway in Anaconda, Montana, for a military veteran accused of a mass shooting that left four people dead.

Anaconda Bar Shooting

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