Man dead, woman in jail after Whitefish shooting

A Whitefish man is dead and the Whitefish woman suspected of fatally shooting him is being held in jail following a Saturday night incident on the 400 block of Colorado Avenue.

Neighbors reported hearing screams and then one apparent gunshot at around 9:35 p.m. Shortly thereafter, Katherine Lanegan, 37, knocked on the neighbors’ door and stated that she had shot her boyfriend, according to a statement on Sunday by Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial.

The neighbors called 911 and Whitefish Police responded and found Ordean L. EngeBretson, 42, lying on the living room floor in his residence.

EngeBretson had been shot numerous times and was pronounced dead at the scene by a Flathead County deputy coroner, Dial said.

Scanner traffic on Saturday night indicated that Lanegan was taken into custody within a few minutes of the initial call to police and that was confirmed on Sunday by Assistant Police Chief Mike Ferda.

The shooting remained under investigation on Sunday evening.

The incident is being investigated as a deliberate homicide but the initial investigation has also brought up some element of self-defense, Ferda said.

“The crime scene and autopsy hopefully will shed a little more light on that. We have heard additional statements and have to tie up loose ends and see where it falls,” Ferda said.

Dial said that Lanegan is currently being held in the Whitefish Jail pending a review of the police department’s investigation by the Flathead County Attorney’s Office.