Following a murder-suicide that left a family of four Kalispell residents dead on Mother’s Day last weekend, a community vigil will be held on Saturday, May 17 at 7 p.m. in Depot Park.
Individual wreaths along with flowers will be present to remember the victims, which included 27-year-old Katie Olson-Hartley and her 6-year-old and 7-month-old children.
The tragedy unfolded on the morning of May 11 when 33-year-old Nicholas Olson-Hartley fatally shot his wife and children before he called 911 and “made multiple concerning statements” to dispatch before disconnecting the call. Following the phone call to dispatch, he died by suicide, according to law enforcement.
“We’re gathering as a community to support our first responders, the family and the folks who passed,” Braveheart Ministry Chaplain Michelle Van Allen said. “It’s shaken our community to the core, and we are offering support and encouragement and a place for people to bring their grief.”
Van Allen said the traumatic incident has significantly impacted the Flathead Valley and the vigil is designed to offer a place to process the tragedy and remember the victims.
“The memorial is a super important piece,” Van Allen said. “To have a place to put the grief is so life-giving to all of us and it helps us move forward.”
Van Allen said the family-friendly vigil is meant to support community members of all ages, including young children. One victim was a kindergartener at Edgerton Elementary School and Van Allen says it’s important for parents to help their kids understand what happened to their classmate.
“Parents are trying to have those intense conversations while protecting our children but not hiding the truth and the severity,” Van Allen said. “Every child at different ages can understand grief at different stages – but how do we get that answer to best serve them?”
In addition to the family and friends of the victims, Van Allen said the vigil is also important to the law enforcement officers and medical personnel who responded to the incident, which included dozens of first responders last weekend.
Chaplains at Braveheart Ministry partner with agencies to assist first responders that include police officers, coroners, and fire and medical personnel in a debrief while connecting them to counselors and other resources. The responders are often significantly impacted by these tragedies, Van Allen said.
“It’s deep seeded,” Van Allen said. “It’s a deep wound for those being face-to-face with such darkness.”
Van Allen said the mental distress caused by traumatic calls like this are sometimes career-ending, and she emphasized the importance of processing the stress.
Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino says traumatic calls have significantly impacted him throughout his career along with his staff, and he says it’s caused some of his colleagues to leave the field of law enforcement.
According to the National Library of Medicine, police personnel have approximately twice the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression when compared to the general population.
“Law enforcement and first responders see pretty traumatic things every day. There’s always a crisis going on and this scenario is one of the worst ones we’ve had to deal with. Any time a child dies, or we have an unexplainable crime, it’s so difficult on the crew,” Heino said, referring to the recent murder-suicide.
Heino said a handful of his staff left law enforcement in the aftermath of a separate murder-suicide in 2020 when a 39-year-old man shot his estranged wife, their 3-year-old daughter and a male companion before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Olney.
Following that tragedy, Heino said the department implemented new policies to help law enforcement process post-traumatic stress, which included crisis counseling, peer support and leaves of absence.
“Law enforcement has come a long way,” Heino said. “When I started 24 years ago at this organization, the attitude was ‘just deal with it.’”
The sheriff’s office started partnering with Braveheart Chaplain Ministry about 15 years ago, an organization that connects chaplains to law enforcement officers who receive support and resources.
Braveheart has six chaplains who serve the City of Kalispell police and fire departments along with the sheriff’s office and connects first responders and community members to grief counselors, domestic violence resources and more.
Van Allen said that the vigil on Saturday will serve an important purpose of processing grief and trauma while bringing the community together during dark times.
“There are no words to describe a group of people walking in a vigil to say we stand in solidarity,” Van Allen said. “Every human being matters. However awkward you may feel about facing something that’s uncomfortable, you should respond to that feeling inside of you that causes you to say, ‘I need to move forward.’ Your presence matters.”
The community vigil will be held at Depot Park in Kalispell on Saturday, May 17 at 7 p.m.
A GoFundMe account has been set up for the victims’ family.