Anaconda, Montana lost a longtime community member on the morning of August 1, 2025, when a gunman opened fire inside the Owl Bar. Seventy-year-old David Allen Leach, known as Dave, was among four people shot dead in the attack; the bartender and two other patrons also died. Leach was born April 25, 1955, in Whitefish, Montana, and was remembered as a kind, well-liked athlete — a 1973 graduate of Columbia Falls High School who later trained in Heating and Air Conditioning and worked for Caterpillar in Denver before returning to Montana and settling in Anaconda.

Authorities identified 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown, a military veteran who lived next door to the Owl Bar and reportedly was a regular there, as the suspect. After fleeing the scene, Brown was the subject of a large multi-agency manhunt that ended with his arrest on August 8, 2025. He has been charged with four counts of deliberate homicide and additional offenses; in a September 3, 2025 court appearance he pleaded not guilty and was held without bail pending trial.