Robbery suspect kills himself

The Daily Inter Lake

A man suspected of robbing the pharmacy at the Evergreen Kmart last month killed himself Sunday night in Chinook.

Bruce Parish, Flathead County Sheriff's Office detective commander, had tracked Chad Lewis, 32, to Blaine County.

Parish had been concerned that Lewis would harm himself when he left Flathead County immediately after the armed robbery.

A pharmacist said the man showed her a revolver and demanded prescription painkillers, which she gave him.

Parish had been in telephone contact with Lewis after the robbery, trying to persuade him to turn himself in. Then Lewis stopped talking to Parish.

Parish said he believed Lewis was in Chinook on Sunday and asked officers there to check at a motel for him. On Monday, the officers told Parish that they found Lewis dead in a room.

Parish said Lewis left a suicide note in which he apologized for the robbery. He wrote that because of that crime, he worried what else he might be capable of because of his addiction to drugs.

Lewis specifically apologized to the pharmacist, Parish said.

Lewis developed an addiction to pain medicine after an injury, Parish said.