Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog

Billings man who fired pistol in self-defense released

A Billings man who was arrested after firing a pistol in a tavern parking lot has been released from the county jail.

Justin Swanz, 26, was freed about 10 hours after his arrest early Tuesday when county prosecutors sent the case back to police for further investigation. Chief Deputy County Attorney Mark Murphy said he could not discuss details of the case, but Swanz claimed in an interview Wednesday that he fired the pistol in self-defense.

Swanz was arrested after police responded about 1:20 a.m. Tuesday to a weapons complaint at Shooters Casino and Sports Bar, 1600 Ave. D.

Officers stopped Swanz as he was leaving the parking lot in a Jeep Cherokee.

Swanz told The Gazette on Wednesday that he fired once into the air as six or seven men advanced on him in the parking lot following a confrontation inside the bar. Swanz said he fired the Taurus .44 Special revolver once.

"They were going to beat me up," Swanz said. "I had no choice but to fire that shot in the air. It was total self-defense."

Swanz said he had arrived at the tavern alone between 10 and 11 p.m. to play pool. He bought a pitcher of beer and played several pool games with another man. Swanz said he went to leave shortly after 1 a.m. and was confronted by men who claimed he owed the other man $1,200 for betting losses on the pool table.

Swanz said he did not bet on the games, but the men threatened him and one man grabbed his pocket knife from his front pants pocket. Swanz was told to leave, so he grabbed his jacket and walked out of the tavern, he said.

As he walked to his car, Swanz said, the men followed and continued to threaten him. When it appeared they were going to attack him, Swanz said, he pulled his pistol from his coat pocket, pointed it into the air and fired one shot. The gunfire stopped the men, although someone threw ice on him, he said.

Swanz said he does not have a concealed weapons permit. Swanz said he is unemployed and he has no criminal record.

Labels: altercation, MT

Hunter recovering from mountain lion attack

The state wildlife agency says a hunter is recovering from a weekend attack by a mountain lion, southeast of Kalispell.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks says the hunter was on a trail yesterday when he heard a growl, turned and saw the lion 10 to 15 feet away. The man dropped his rifle and sought protection behind a tree, but the lion pounced on his back and knocked him into the tree. The man was able to grab his pistol, fired a shot and the mountain lion fled.

The hunter, whose name was withheld, received medical attention at a hospital and was released.

Labels: animal, MT

Haggar's encounter with grizzly ends tragically for hungry 400-pound bear

Carl Haggar has been living just west of the Blackfeet Reservation boundary on U.S. Highway 2 for years, and he's been hunting the Lubec Hills area across the highway for just about as long. Carl is a responsible and careful hunter, and he'd already talked to Dan Carney, bear biologist for the Blackfeet Tribe, as well as Gabe Salois, a game warden for Blackfeet Fish and Wildlife. They'd already told him there were grizzly bears at large in the Lubec Hills.

"I went out Tuesday morning [Oct. 22] at daybreak," Haggar said Sunday, Oct. 28. "It was a beautiful morning, not much wind. It took me about an hour and a half to get to the area where I hunt. Bears were not on my mind, but I knew of multiple sightings," he said of his conversations with the experts. Nevertheless, Carl saw no signs of bear activity as he continued his solitary hunt.

He was walking along the top of a ravine - the Lubec Hills include several parallel ridges with narrow valleys between - when he saw a grizzly cub scamper up the other side. Immediately an enormous sow grizzly charged up his side of the ravine to investigate. Haggar stood his ground with his rifle held across his chest and softly but firmly said "whoa" to the griz. Haggar said "whoa" three times as the female griz waited, deciding what to do next, when Carl tripped and fell over backwards.

The griz was on him in a flash, covering the 20 feet separating them in a split second. "I knew I would be mauled," he said. "I remember thinking that if I got a round off I hoped I'd have time to get in another one because it was obvious I was in deep sh_t."

Haggar fell on one arm, still holding his semi automatic 30.06 rifle in the other. He got a single shot fired and hit the female just above the left eye, killing it nearly instantly. She fell at his feet, motionless.

"There was a moment when she was at the top when I thought she would stop, just for an instant, but my tripping just triggered her instincts...when she dropped at my feet I couldn't believe it," he said.

Standing by a tree and catching his breath, Haggar said he looked to see if there were more cubs, but didn't see any. "Then I started to get angry about the situation and why the bear had to die," he said. "I wasn't thinking at all about how close I'd come to death."

Haggar hiked back out, called the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and that afternoon accompanied Rod Duty to investigate the scene.

When they got there, a male grizzly prevented the official from gathering biological samples, but upon investigating from the opposite ridge, they were able to see a gut pile from a hunter's elk kill, lying at the bottom of the ravine. Although invisible from Haggar's vantage point earlier, the remains had attracted the female as well as the male later that day.

Duty found Haggar's shell casing lying nine feet from the bear's carcass. Haggar said he'd tested his gun at home and found it throws the casings about five feet behind him so the bear was only about four feet away when it was killed. Duty absolved him of any guilt in the bear's death, ruling it was self defense.

Labels: animal, MT

Hunter kills advancing grizzly

A female grizzly bear was killed over the weekend at close range by a hunter near Ovando, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said.

The hunter told authorities that he was walking down a game trail on Saturday then he saw three grizzlies 75 yards ahead of him. A large female advanced, despite his attempts to warn it of his presence.

The hunter shot the 300-pound bear at close range, killing it with one shot, FWP officials said Monday. The two other bears left the area.

The hunter immediately reported the incident to authorities, who closed the road in the area until they could retrieve the bear on Sunday.

FWP said the incident is a reminder that much of western Montana is grizzly bear country.

Bear specialist Jamie Jonkel asked hunters to carry bear spray, saying it is the most successful way to fend off bear attack and prevent injury to hunter and animal alike.

“Hunters should watch for bear sign, be especially careful around dense cover, make plenty of noise, avoid hunting alone and use extra caution when returning to retrieve a game carcass,” Jonkel said in a release.

Labels: animal, MT

Hunter charging grizzly

Sitting on his butt and aiming a 30-06 rifle with one arm, Carl Haggar of East Glacier fired the shot of his life — and maybe saved it.

The 350-pound grizzly that was closing in on him hit the ground — dead — just five feet away.

"It was an amazing sound," said Haggar, recalling the bear's heavy collapse, "because it was a lifeless sound."
Haggar, who was hunting elk, said he felt terrible after killing the bear, which happened late Tuesday morning near the South Fork of the Two Medicine River in the Lewis and Clark National Forest southwest of East Glacier.

But, he figured, it was the bear or him.

"I would have been killed if I hadn't had a killing blow," he said.

(More)

Labels: animal, MT

Athlete recovering from mauling

A Carroll College student is recovering from a severed hamstring and other injuries suffered when he was mauled by a grizzly bear while bow hunting over the weekend.

Roman Morris, who is a freshman wide receiver on Carroll’s football team, said he was crouched on a hillside north of Gardiner at dawn Saturday when a female grizzly bear walking by turned and attacked him.

‘‘It charged down the hill and just drilled me,’’ said Morris, 21, of Whitewater.

Over the next 30 to 45 seconds, Morris fought with the bear as it bit and clawed, severed his left hamstring, punctured his shoulder, chomped at his head and tossed him around.

‘‘I thought the whole time, This is so messed up. I’m going to die, I’m going to die,’’’ said Morris, a pre-med major.

The bear ran off after a friend fired a pistol. Morris underwent surgery at a Livingston hospital and was recuperating Monday at his brother’s house in Helena.

(More)

Labels: animal, MT

Bear in mauling found dead

Game wardens confirmed Sunday that a female grizzly bear shot by a Pennsylvania elk hunter in Tom Miner Basin on Saturday has died of its wounds.

Kevin Frey, a bear management specialist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the bear weighed about 300 pounds and was probably between 8 and 10 years old.

It attacked a pair of bow hunters early Saturday afternoon. One of them used bear pepper spray and halted a charge within nine feet, but the grizzly turned and charged a second time. That's when the second hunter shot it twice with a .44 magnum pistol.

“It hit her and turned her,” FWP Warden Captain Sam Sheppard said of the spray. “Then she whirled and came back over a log at them.”

Without the spray, the bear likely would have mauled one of the men before they had a chance to pull the pistol, Sheppard said.

“It's not foolproof,” he said. “But it's still the best thing going.”

The first pistol shot entered the bear's body just under the chin, traveled through the sternum and clipped the aorta, Sheppard said. The second hit the bear in the chest. Both likely would have been fatal.

Investigators on Sunday looked over the scene, which had received about 20 inches of snow, and performed a field necropsy.

“It happened just like they said it did,” Sheppard said. “It's self defense. The matter is closed.”

Labels: animal, MT

Bear wounded after charging bow hunter

A bear feeding on the carcass of a grizzly bear in northwestern Montana was shot after charging a bow hunter that apparently startled it, state wildlife officials said.

Game wardens tracked the wounded bear’s blood trail for four miles, but were unable to locate it.

The state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is warning hunters and others planning to be in the South Fork of Canyon Creek in the North Fork Flathead drainage that the wounded bear may be in the area.

The bow hunter shot the bear with a pistol Thursday evening. FWP Warden Perry Brown and biologist Tim Manley tracked the wounded bear Friday, following a blood trail for three or four miles before losing it. Biologists don’t know if it was a black bear or a grizzly.

It’s questionable whether the bear would survive the substantial blood loss, but the agency wanted to warn recreationists.

Brown said there was evidence the dead grizzly died several days earlier and may have been killed illegally.

Labels: animal, MT

Shooter gets no jail time

Braunig-Haag claimed self-defense in death of husband

A North Fork woman who shot her husband to death will serve no jail time.

In a deal worked out between County Attorney Ed Corrigan and defense attorneys Patrick Sherlock and Sean Hinchey, District Court Judge Kitty Curtis sentenced Rebecca Braunig-Haag to a 10-year suspended sentence with 10 years probation Thursday.

Originally charged with deliberate homicide, she pleaded “no contest” to an amended charge of negligent homicide in April.

“She does have a claim for self-defense,” Corrigan said. “She, quite frankly, is unlikely to incur a further criminal history. I do believe the conviction for negligent homicide holds her accountable.”

In a statement to the judge, Braunig-Haag said she was sorry and that she loved her husband.

“I was so scared I picked up the gun to keep him from killing us,” she said. “More than anything, I didn’t want to shoot him.”

At the sentencing hearing, defense attorneys called a number of witnesses, including neighbors and family members, who testified to Braunig-Haag’s remorse, good character, and mental health. A private investigator hired by the defense also testified to events that occurred the day Braunig-Haag’s husband died.

Braunig-Haag was 51 at the time she shot her husband, Von Stanley Haag, 60, in the chest with a .44 caliber Magnum.

She told investigators he had threatened to burn down their home if she didn’t accompany him on a trip to Texas to attend his father’s funeral.

Braunig-Haag and her husband had both retired from supervisory jobs with the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department a year or two before the shooting, according to reports.

They began spending more time at their home in the Trail Creek area, but also maintained a home in San Antonio.

The Nov. 7, 2005, argument over whether or not to attend the funeral escalated to the point where Braunig-Haag said she feared her husband would burn the house down. He threatened her and poured gasoline throughout the house, she told police.

That’s when she shot him and called neighbors for help, reports said.

Flathead County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Braunig-Haag and she originally was charged with murder. Bond was set at $500,000 in her November 2005 arraignment, but was later reduced to $50,000 in January 2006.

Had Judge Curtis decided to give Braunig-Haag prison time, she would have been allowed to withdraw her “no contest” plea and gone to trial. If convicted of deliberate homicide, she could have been sentenced to life or up to 100 years in prison. Two to 10 years could have been added for use of a firearm. The maximum sentence for negligent homicide is 20 years in prison.

Woman gets suspended sentence in husband's shooting death

A former Texas resident who said she accidentally shot her husband during a domestic altercation in 2005 was sentenced Thursday to probation.

Rebecca Braunig-Haag, 52, originally was charged with murder in the death of Von S. Haag, 60, but she later pleaded no contest to negligent homicide.

Following the terms of the plea agreement, District Judge Kitty Curtis gave Braunig-Haag a 10-year suspended sentence with 10 years of probation Thursday.

"She does have a claim for self-defense," Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan said. "She, quite frankly, is unlikely to incur a further criminal history. I do believe the conviction for negligent homicide holds her accountable."

Braunig-Haag was arrested in November 2005 after deputies found Von Haag dead of a gunshot wound at the couple's home on the western edge of Glacier National Park.

Braunig-Haag went to a neighbor's house to report the shooting. She told investigators that her husband, in a rage, had poured gasoline around the house and threatened to set it on fire if she didn't accompany him to his father's funeral in Texas.

She said she picked up a gun and pointed it at him when it discharged.

Labels: assault, domestic dispute, MT

Rancher shoots wolf after stock losses

A Bitterroot Valley, Mont., rancher who lost several calves to wolves spent the night in his car to guard his herd, and shot a wolf as it moved among his cattle.

"There were all these black shapes, cows running everywhere," said Ed Cummings, who was awakened at 4:30 a.m. on June 5 by his dog's growling. "And right in the middle of them, just sort of trotting around, is this wolf."

Cummings lost his shoe while trying to get out of the compact car, keep an eye on the wolf and grab the rifle he'd borrowed.

"I didn't make a very good shot, but I hit it," he said Monday.

Federal officials shot another wolf the next day.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks issued Cummings a permit to kill two more wolves, although he does not need permission to shoot those attacking, chasing or harassing his livestock.

(More)

Labels: animal, MT

Man allegedly shot by son

A Hanna man remained in critical condition Thursday after his 17-year-old son allegedly shot him twice in the chest.

Authorities said the teenager shot Chuck Combs with a .22-caliber rifle on Dec. 22. Carbon County prosecutor David Clark said the shooting appeared to be in self-defense.

As of Thursday, charges hadn't been filed.

Meanwhile, acting Hanna Marshall Richard Fowler said Thursday that Combs was still in "extremely critical condition" at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper.

Hospital officials declined to disclose any information about Combs.

Fowler said the shooting remained under investigation.

He said the home had a history of family violence, and that Combs' drinking may have contributed to a confrontation.

Labels: domestic dispute, MT

Gunshots fired; suspect wounded

Gunshots were fired in a downtown apartment early Tuesday after a group of intruders forced their way inside and accosted a 55-year-old male occupant, police said.

A male suspect in the break-in at 45 Custer Ave. was wounded in the arm and torso when the resident, Randy Hochhalter, fired twice during the struggle, police said. Officers and emergency crews responded to reports of gunfire at about 4:20 a.m.

An intruder also fired a weapon during the confrontation but did not hit anyone.

The wounded man, who fled with others in the group, was located in northern Wyoming later in the day, Billings Police Capt. Dave Hinkel said. The man was taken by helicopter to a Billings hospital, where he was in surgery for what appeared to be nonlife-threatening wounds, Hinkel said.

(More)

Labels: assault, home invasion, MT

Intruder prompts elderly Sula woman to get her gun

Phyllis Friesen sat in her bedroom Sunday night with a .357 pistol in her lap while a strange man raided her refrigerator and trashed her house.

Law enforcement officers arrived at the 80-year-old woman's cabin 15 miles up the East Fork of the Bitterroot River near Springer Memorial more than an hour after she called 911 to report the alleged intruder, 42-year-old Jerry D. Gensamer.

“I asked what the heck he was doing in my house and he never answered me - just started trashing the living room,” Friesen said.

Gensamer was charged in Justice Court Monday with a host of felony and misdemeanor offenses, including burglary and resisting arrest.

Gensamer entered Friesen's house through a door at about 10:15 p.m., she said. Friesen, who lives by herself, said she doesn't normally lock the door. After he ignored her questions, Friesen said she went into her bedroom, pulled out a gun and called 911.

“It wasn't as frightening as it would have been if I didn't have the gun,” she said.

Gensamer allegedly helped himself to food in Friesen's refrigerator, and at one point took out some food, wrapped it in newspaper and put it in the freezer. He rummaged through every room in the house, according to court documents, broke a couple of items and generally made a mess of the place.

“It was kind of funny,” Friesen said. “He was just weird.”

While Friesen remained in her room patiently waiting for sheriff's deputies to arrive, Gensamer went outside and attempted to use his set of keys to start her 1969 Dodge truck.

Friesen said Gensamer's vehicle got stuck at a nearby house and he walked through the woods to her house. The value of damaged items appears to be less than $1,000.

Deputies found Gensamer in the truck, court documents say. He refused to provide identification or to exit the truck until one of the officers threatened to taze him, according to court documents.

Ravalli County Chief Deputy Attorney Geoff Mahar said alcohol was involved.

Gensamer is being held in the Ravalli County Detention Center on $25,000 bail on felony burglary and attempted theft and misdemeanor criminal trespass, criminal mischief and resisting arrest charges. He will make his initial appearance in District Court in three weeks.

Labels: home invasion, MT, residence robbery

Jury says Billings shooting was justified

A coroner’s jury cleared a Billings man of wrongdoing Wednesday in the May 2005 shooting death of Jordan Ortivez, 20.

Jurors deliberated about an hour before deciding Leonard ‘‘Lenny’’ Larson was justified in shooting Ortivez in Larson’s mobile home last year. The jury heard about five hours of testimony from 12 witnesses, including Larson.

Yellowstone County Chief Deputy Attorney Mark Murphy said conflicting testimony was one of the reasons prosecutors decided to hold the inquest.

Ortivez’s father, Julian, witnessed the shooting and has maintained that Larson had no reason to shoot his son.

‘‘I don’t understand how an individual could try to justify his actions when there was no violence or physical aggression of any kind,’’ he testified.

Larson testified that he shot Ortivez in self defense.

Ortivez and his father went to Larson’s home on May 5 to retrieve Ortivez’s keys from Larson’s roommate. Larson said he had met Ortivez ‘‘a handful of times.’’

Larson, his friend Richard Voorhis and a woman were at Larson’s home when they arrived.

Jordan Ortivez began threatening them and became more agitated when Larson asked him to leave, Voorhis testified. Jordan Ortivez then told them if he didn’t get the keys, he would kill everybody in the room, Voorhis said.

Labels: assault, MT

Shooting victim charged with attack on girlfriend

Last Sunday morning, Chad Hill's girlfriend shot him in the stomach, then frantically called police to report what she'd done.

By late Thursday, Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech had signed a $250,000 warrant for Hill's arrest on several counts of assault and child endangerment - and it was clearly the injured Hill who was in trouble over the incident.

As of Friday afternoon, Hill, 21, was listed in good condition at St. Patrick Hospital, where he has been since the early morning shooting June 20. Police had not yet taken him into custody.

A complaint and affidavit supporting the arrest warrant outline the charges against Hill: felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor counts of partner assault, assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Hill and his girlfriend, Ashley New, had been dating about four months when she arrived at the hospital June 14, claiming to have been beaten outside Stockman's Bar, the affidavit said. She had several facial fractures, a concussion, two black eyes, scrapes and bruises.

New said she didn't know who attacked her, but the affidavit said an officer who responded became suspicious almost immediately, because it appeared New had been choked and punched by someone standing in front of her - and the injuries were so serious that whoever caused them meant to hurt her. The officer tried to follow up later, but no one would answer the door at New's apartment at 2050 S. 14th St. W.

Five days later, New called 9-1-1 from a neighbor's house to say she'd shot Hill.

The argument Sunday morning allegedly started after a night of drinking, the affidavit said. New tried to take a shower, and Hill got angry. He said he "was going to break the other side of her face" and started hitting and kicking her and dragging her around by the hair.

Then, the affidavit said, Hill took a .45 caliber gun from a dresser drawer, set it on the corner of a bed and said he'd kill New if she didn't get it first. She grabbed the gun and backed out of the room. Hill then got two knives from the kitchen and threatened to kill both New and her 3-year-old son. New shot Hill the third time he moved toward the little boy's door.

"Chad scared me," the boy reportedly told officers later. "Chad opened the door and Mommy shot Chad. Š My mom got hurt."

Hill also has a pending case in state District Court, on charges that he beat his previous girlfriend and hurt his mother as she tried to protect her.

Labels: domestic abuse, MT

Homeowner kills escaped inmate

A Cascade homeowner shot and killed an escaped inmate from the Cascade County regional jail who was in the house Monday evening.

Paul Anthony Anderson, 26, who was serving 10 years on a Missoula robbery involving a weapon, was shot once in the chest with a handgun and died before deputies and medical personnel arrived.

He and James Joseph Brown, 41, were low-security state inmates and walked away from the regional jail Sunday night around 9 p.m. as they washed windows in the jail lobby.

Sheriff Kent Funyak notified the public of the escapes Monday morning.

No one has been arrested or charged in the shooting. Funyak said officers were investigating the scene Monday night and would need to interview the homeowners again this morning before releasing details of the shooting.

However, neighbors said the convict broke into the house and was shot.

Labels: fugitive, intruder, MT

Authorities in Missoula say a 21-year-old University of Montana student grabbed her attacker's gun, and jumped from a moving truck, after being kidnapped and raped by a man on Saturday.

...

MISSOULA (AP) - Sheriff's Lieutenant Rich Maricelli says the woman parked her pickup truck in a lot on campus, and a man asked if she could give him a lift to his vehicle and maybe jump-start it for him. She agreed. But the man pulled a handgun out of his jacket and told her to drive up Deer Creek. [too graphic description of the rape deleted] He set the gun down between the seats; and she managed to free her hands, get the gun, leap from the truck and roll down an embankment. She later told detectives she was prepared to use the gun if the man came back for her.

Labels: criminal's gun taken away and used against him, kidnapping, MT, rape