Shooting may be connected to drugs

The shooting of a man in a car on West Springcreek Road Saturday may have been the result of a dispute involving drugs and the shooter has yet to be located, a Flathead County Sheriff’s detective said Monday.

Bryan Schloss, 26, of Kalispell, was dropped off by another Kalispell resident, Bo Hanger, 27, at Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s emergency room at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

Hanger left and later was arrested by Whitefish police. Hanger has been charged with robbery and is being held at the Flathead County jail.

Detective Ray Young said Schloss was shot three to five times, sustaining wounds to his abdomen and jaw. He remains in stable condition in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

“There was a third male in the vehicle who we haven’t identified yet,” said Young said. “He is our suspect shooter. He fled the scene on foot.”

“We’re still trying to find out who he is and where he is,” Sheriff Mike Meehan said.

Young said it is believed that the shooting happened after a dispute between Hanger and Schloss, who are friends, and the third person. “We believe there were drugs involved,” Young said.

Meehan said it is possible that Schloss or Hanger also fired a weapon, and that the missing suspect may have been hit. 

Flathead County Search and Rescue scoured the West Springcreek Road area where the incident occurred.

“We have recovered one gun” that was on the ground in the area, Meehan said.

By late afternoon, detectives had obtained a warrant and were searching the Honda sport utility vehicle Hanger was driving.

Meehan urges anyone who may seen a white man, about 6 feet tall and in his mid-20s, in the West Springcreek Road area around 2 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday to contact the sheriff’s office at 758-5585.