Gunshots at Missoula Motel – Shooter Reports ‘People in the Walls’ and ‘Voices in Vents’
Missoula police responded to a disturbing 911 call just before 10:00 a.m. Wednesday Morning, November 15, that involved an active shooter in a hotel.
"911 received a call from a male who reported that there were people trying to kill him and that he was shooting at them," said Missoula Police Public Information Officer Travis Welsh. "He reported that he was a guest at a motel at the east end of Broadway and that these people who were trying to get to him were in the walls of his room and speaking to him through the vents in the ceiling."
911 dispatch was able to convince the man to stop firing and to listen to law enforcement. Police determined that the man had, in fact, fired a weapon multiple times, though the actual caliber of the weapon hasn't been released, Welsh says it is larger than a BB gun.
"We did recover a small caliber weapon from the room and also observed evidence that he had, in fact, been firing the weapon, the good news is that he was in a second floor room and there was no room above him, and there was also nobody in the room below him," Welsh said.
The man had been taken in for questioning, but as of noon, no charges had been filed. The man was being checked to see if drugs or psychological problems may have played a role in the shooting. Police say the walls were too thin and the vents were too narrow to contain people as the man had originally claimed. Police say no one else called in to report the shootings.