Bullet goes through athletic director's living room window

Police are investigating a gunshot that went into the home of Columbia Falls High School athletic director last Friday. No one was injured.

Law enforcement found a large-caliber bullet inside the Troy Bowman residence on South Hilltop Road, Columbia Falls Police Chief Dave Perry said. The house is just outside of the city limits. The bullet went through the living room window, while the occupants of the house were asleep, Perry said.  

Law enforcement believe it came from a handgun; however, the bullet is too badly damaged to trace it back to the gun it was fired from, Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said.

“We did not see anything, but heard four or five gunshots total that we thought were coming from east of our house,” Bowman said in an email Monday. He said the bullet was found on a book shelf in his front entry way. He was told by police that the bullet was believed to be a .44 caliber. 

A caller on Bethany Street reported hearing three shots at 5:42 a.m. that sounded like they came from a house on Talbott Road. 

A woman on a walking path near the junior high told police that she heard the shots but didn’t see anything.

The houses on South Hilltop Road, south of Talbott Road, are set back from the road several yards and are, in part, across the road from a cemetery and fields, but houses border the north end of the road. No vehicles were seen at the time of the incident.

Police didn’t have any suspects as of presstime and the incident is still under investigation by Columbia Falls Police and the Flathead County Sheriff’s Department.