UPDATED: Man Dies in Kalispell Shooting
Officers responded to three people with gunshot wounds on Thursday morning; two have been transported to Logan Health
By Maggie Dresser and Micah Drew
A 27-year-old Kalispell man is dead after shots were fired in the parking lot of Fuel Fitness and Nutrition at 1305 U.S. Highway 2 in Kalispell on Thursday morning, according to press a release from the Kalispell Police Department (KPD).
Officers responded to a call of shots fired at 10:52 a.m. on Sept. 16 where they found three people with gunshot wounds, including one man who died. The other two men were transported to Logan Health, and authorities say all involved parties are accounted for.
The man who sustained fatal injuries at the scene has been identified by the KPD as Matthew Hurley, the manager of Fuel Fitness.
At the scene, officers discovered a male had been asked to leave the parking lot by employees of the business, resulting in an argument. The male opened fire on one of the employees, killing him. A bystander reportedly grabbed a gun from his vehicle and fired shots at the suspect, disabling him and receiving a gunshot wound in the exchange, according to the Kalispell Police Department.
The suspect male is reportedly in critical condition and remains under law enforcement supervision. The bystander is reportedly in stable condition, according to authorities.
According to Fuel Fitness and Nutrition assistant manager Matt Underhill, he and Hurley confronted a man in the gym’s parking lot who had been living in his vehicle at the gym for several weeks. They refunded the man’s unused gym membership and told him he needed to leave. The man demanded more money from the gym, and when told they could not offer him more, he responded that they were going to die and pulled out a gun.
Underhill said he immediately ran back to the gym and heard several gunshots around him. He said Hurley fell to the pavement after the first gunshot.
Another gym member who saw the initial exchange ran to his own vehicle in the parking lot, according to Underhill, grabbed a firearm and returned fire, while sustaining a gunshot wound of his own.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
