Man dies of self-inflicted gunshot

A man’s suicide led to a brief hysteria in Evergreen Thursday morning.

Initial reports of someone screaming and of shots fired drew a slew of Flathead County Sheriff’s deputies to North Cedar Drive, where they found the body of a man in his mid-20s. The man had shot himself in the head with a shotgun.

Despite early indications that the incident had just happened when it was reported shortly before 8 a.m., Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said it was determined that the man had ended his life several hours prior.

“In any death investigation, we try to be very thorough to make sure we have the facts right,” Curry said. “The fact that it was outside, the fact that there was some initial confusion — there were several things that were eyebrow raising, but we got it ironed out.”

Curry said that his office looked at all the facts and conducted interviews with several neighbors before coming to a firm conclusion that the fatal wound had been self-inflicted.