St. Regis shows support for law enforcement after hostage incident

Around 100 people gathered in the St. Regis School gymnasium March 20 as a community assembly was called for those who may need counseling or just want to talk about the shooting incident March 18 where a suspect in an Idaho armed robbery was killed by law enforcement after shooting a hostage near the travel center.

Amy Lommen, Disaster and Emergency Services for Mineral County, was the primary organizer of the event and made it clear when she introduced herself that the evening was for healing. She said those in the audience could visit with licensed therapists in a group or one-on-one to work through possible issues they are having from Saturday.

“One thing I will recommend is reading the flyer our mental health providers created that has a lot of different local resources that they can reach out to,” she said in reference to those who were not in attendance. “The Sheriff’s Office is actually going to post this on their social media pages,” she said.

“I am so proud of our community. Proud of our local law enforcement and the cooperation they had from other agencies,” said Lawana McGuffey, a Licensed Addiction Counselor and Mental Health Therapist in Superior.

She along with Carissa Kuhl, M.Ed, LCPC welcomed those who wanted to talk privately in rooms that St. Regis School Superintendent Derek Larson made available for the evening. Information was handed out titled Critical Incident Stress Information and McGuffey went through the list of the four categories of physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral so that people could evaluate on their own if any of the symptoms may apply to them.

Mineral County Sheriff Ryan Funke took the podium to thank and recognize some of the law enforcement agencies that rapidly responded, which made a huge impact on everyone at the incident scene with the show of force that arrived.

Funke became passionate when he introduced Sgt. Shawn Smalley with the Montana Highway Patrol, as the two of them have been friends who have taken care of each other over the years in tense situations.

Sanders County Sheriff Shawn Fielders was also introduced, as both Funke and Fielders became sheriffs on Jan. 1, and Funke said that they are both learning together.

Funke was pleased with the event turnout and the kind words that were shared for the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office concerning the very stressful incident.

“Ultimately this evening, we wanted to show the community that we are here for the community, just as the community has shown that they are here for us.”

One of the attendees who was at the scene on Saturday was Tom Heacock who is a longtime St. Regis resident.

“It lit-up pretty fast. I saw several different [law enforcement] agencies coming down Highway 135 in full response. I don’t think it was an over response. I’ve heard people talking about having an awful lot of law enforcement. How do you call over response? Site mangers were right there making room for helicopters. That’s pretty cool. They knew what they were doing.”

Heacock had nothing but admiration for those who were there, doing what they could to secure the area and make it safe.

“I thought it was wonderful,” said Patti Curtin, who is a Crime Victim Advocate for the County Attorneys Office of Mineral County on the evening's gathering. “I loved the law enforcement all being here. I think the information was presented correctly and I think the community absorbed it.”

Curtin’s job is to find victim's compensation funding for those who cannot afford counseling.

There was standing ovations and applause after a few from the audience came to the podium to express their emotional gratitude with handshakes and hugs when the evening ended.

The investigation has been turned over to the Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation.