A 21-year-old Columbia Falls man who allegedly shot a man to death Jan. 17 on Flathead Drive in Evergreen has been charged in Flathead County District Court with deliberate homicide.
Authorities identified the shooting victim as 42-year-old Luke Simpson of Columbia Falls.
Flathead County law enforcement arrested Tanner Doyle White at a traffic stop in Columbia Falls on Jan. 23 after an investigation linked him and his vehicle to the crime, according to law enforcement. Officers found a firearm inside the vehicle and placed White in custody at the Flathead County Detention Center, where he remains on $500,000 bail, according to Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino.
According to charging documents, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched on Jan. 17 to 125 Flathead Drive for a report of gunshots fired where they found Simpson dead on arrival. White was not at the scene but authorities spoke with a neighbor who heard eight to nine gunshots that “sounded like fireworks.” The neighbor also reported hearing a male’s voice and observed two vehicles in the area.
Almost a week later, during a Jan. 23 traffic stop, Columbia Falls Police Department officers identified White’s vehicle as having a possible connection to the homicide. Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the scene and say White was uncooperative during the arrest, according to Heino.
On Jan. 24, White admitted to detectives that on Jan. 17 he followed Simpson to the scene of the murder on Flathead Drive and shot him with a handgun before leaving in a vehicle with his fiancé. White stated that his fiancé was on a date with Simpson earlier that day, which likely motivated the killing.
Heino said narcotics were related to the incident and other individuals were likely involved in the shooting; however, only White has been charged at this point.
According to court documents, White was previously charged with felony assault on a peace officer causing bodily injury when he allegedly head-butted a sheriff’s deputy in 2019 during a warrant arrest.
White faces a maximum punishment that includes the penalty or 100 years in the Montana State Prison. He is scheduled to appear for an arraignment hearing before Judge Robert B. Allison in Flathead County District Court on Feb. 10 at 9 a.m.