Man with rifle causes commotion in Bigfork

Bigfork residents were up in arms last week over a man they say was a danger to the community despite comments to the contrary by Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry.

The uproar involves a report of a man who reportedly was carrying a rifle as he entered Christie’s Great Estates on Electric Avenue and caused a scene about the Canadian flag flying out front.

Jay Wolf, who lives in Bigfork but works at Glacier Sotheby’s in Whitefish, said he and other residents were infuriated by Curry’s comments that downplayed the incident. Curry said Thursday that residents’ concerns were greater than what the situation called for.

“Curry blowing the whole thing off is just irritating to me to no end,” Wolf said. “It needs to be dealt with. Let us know who the guy is, does he have any felonies? I just think they need to let us know what really is going on.” Wolf also refuted Curry’s statement that it hadn’t been confirmed that the man had a gun.

“I witnessed this person with a rifle in his hand,” he said. “Walking down the street with a rifle is inappropriate. None of us are anti-gun at all, but none of us either would walk down the road with a rifle like that.”

Another resident upset with the sheriff’s comments, who asked not to be identified by name, was the employee who made the initial report. He also said he saw the rifle in the man’s hands.

“He was packing a rifle down the street, so it’s no rumor,” he said.

He shared his belief that the sheriff’s comments were likely an attempt to keep the community from panicking.

Along with the incident he reported, the employee said he had contact with the man a day prior to the flag incident.

“I interviewed him,” he said. “He came in and asked about real estate. After I figured out who I was talking to, I told him I couldn’t help him. He got a little combative with me but left peacefully.”

He added that the man had just “blown into town” and shared his belief the man “thinks it’s the Wild West,” and walked down the street like he was the sheriff.

“Having had a personal interaction with this guy, I can tell you he’s got a screw loose,” he said. “He’s aggressive, he’s not a passive weirdo. He’s an aggressive, angry, crazy person.”

For his part, Curry maintained that his office was doing what it could, but that the man had not yet committed any crime worthy of his arrest.

“Public safety is, of course, our primary concern, and we always attempt to respond appropriately to citizens’ concerns,” Curry said. “However, in this case we have found nothing to do more than monitor this individual and make sure that he doesn’t pose a danger to public safety, and we’ll continue to do that.”

He said the man’s background is being looked into and that he does have a criminal history, but declined to elaborate on that history other than there is a non-extraditable warrant — what Curry called a “stay out of town” warrant — out of another state.

Curry also said the possibility that one of those crimes is a felony also is being investigated.

“But understand that Montana has pretty broad felon-with-weapon laws,” he said. Whether or not he may possess a firearm “depends on where his felony is from and whether or not it has been completely adjudicated; it depends on the crime and what the sentencing judge said. It’s not black and white, not just ‘no felon can ever have a gun.’”

He added that his deputies have had contact with the man and talked to him, and would continue to monitor his actions going forward.

One of those incidents of contact occurred shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday, when the man was reported running around a hotel saying “trippy stuff,” making negative comments about a maintenance man and trying to start a fight with a bookkeeper.

A deputy reported the man had not actually threatened anyone with harm or threatened to harm himself, and that there wasn’t enough of a basis to arrest him for disorderly conduct. A mental health facility representative also told the deputy there wasn’t enough basis for a mental health hold, either.

Rumors of dangerous man in Bigfork unfounded, sheriff says

By JESSE DAVIS

Northwest Montana News Network

The rumor mill has run amok in Bigfork.

Residents and local businesses have blown out of proportion the possible danger posed by a suspicious man in the area, according to Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry.

The only sure information about the man is a suspicious-person report called in to the Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday afternoon.

The man reportedly entered Christie’s Great Estates on Electric Avenue, where he “barged into the office and protested the Canadian flag they had flying out front and slammed a quarter down on the desk,” scaring everyone in the office, according to a dispatch log.

He was later contacted by a deputy, who advised him he was no longer allowed at the business and would be trespassing if he showed up again.

Although the log indicates he has been known to carry a rifle, Curry said it has not been confirmed whether or not he has been or whether he was ever seen carrying one locally.

“He really hasn’t done anything illegal, he’s just a crazy guy,” Curry said.

Curry said his deputies have been trying to locate the man again — not to arrest him or because he is dangerous but only to check on his mental state.

Curry specifically refuted a claim made in a call to his office on Wednesday from a resident who heard that deputies were knocking on neighbors’ doors warning them to keep their doors locked and stay inside because a nonregistered sex offender is missing.

He said that entire statement was untrue.

A Bigfork Chamber of Commerce email sent out Thursday warned local businesses and said the Chamber would be open but keeping its doors locked.

“Please be alert if he would come into your office,” the email reads. “Remove yourself from the area, get to safe location, and call 911.”

According to Curry, however, “There’s lots of ‘Well, we heard... well, we heard.’ It’s kind of turned into a little community mess. We are not knocking on doors and asking people to stay indoors or anything like that. Right now we have nothing to indicate anything other than that he is weird.”