One arrested following SWAT-involved call in Kalispell

Updated 6:04 p.m.

Kalispell Police officers took a 52-year-old man into custody Tuesday following a confrontation involving the department’s special response team on the 200 block of West Idaho Street.

Erik Allen Rodriguez of Kalispell is being held in the county jail on a pending felony assault with a weapon charge, officials said. Authorities initially released few details about the incident, but said in a press release that it began with a call reporting an assault with a weapon at about 10:42 a.m.

While authorities set up a perimeter and called in the department’s special response team, which operated in conjunction with the Northwest Montana regional SWAT, they urged residents to avoid the area.

They declared the situation resolved at about 12:25 p.m.

Kalispell resident Mark Jones told the Daily Inter Lake that he made the initial 911 call after running an errand at a nearby store. When they lacked the products he needed, he got back into his truck and turned into an adjacent alleyway intending to get onto Washington Street.

Instead, he came face to face with a man on a two-wheeler, which he described as appearing like a scooter, but with fat tires. After shaking his finger at Jones, the man laid down the scooter and took off.

Jones said he had navigated around the other vehicle when he looked into his rearview mirror and saw the man had returned, armed with a rifle.

“I head around the two-wheeler and the next thing I know there is this meth head behind me with this freakin’ rifle pointed at me,” said Jones, who described the other man as seemingly under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Jones said he jumped out of his truck and confronted the man, who then threatened to kill him. At that, Jones said he retreated to his vehicle, drove off and parked a short distance away. Then he called 911.

He described the firearm as a long rifle with a scope, but remembered few other details.

“All I could focus on was the scope and the hole at the end of the gun,” Jones said.

He said he stayed nearby to watch the law enforcement response and waited until authorities escorted out the man he remembered from the alleyway confrontation.

“I don’t even know how to explain it: This town has gone to hell,” Jones said. “Something has got to change; this is ridiculous. The crackheads have more power than the people. I don’t even know what to say anymore, it’s just out of control right now.”

He said his wife has chided him for getting out of the truck. In retrospect, it was a poor decision, Jones admitted.

The incident has left him wondering whether he should move from the community he arrived in three decades ago.

“I’m just beside myself at this point. I don’t know what to do with this town,” Jones said. “At 54 years old, do I up and move my family somewhere else? … I don't know where the hell to go and I can’t really afford to start over somewhere else.”

Earlier versions of this story follow below:

Authorities have taken a man into custody Tuesday following an assault with a weapon report in Kalispell that eventually involved SWAT and the city police department’s special response team.

Charges are pending, officials said in a press release. More information will be released as the investigation continues, authorities said.

Original story below:

Authorities set up a perimeter around a building on Kalispell's west and north side after responding to an assault with a weapon call about 10:42 a.m.

In a press release, officials urged residents to avoid the area as officers make “efforts at peacefully resolving the situation.”

The Kalispell Police Department Special Response Team was on scene in cooperation with the Northwest Montana regional SWAT.

More information will be released as it is available, officials said.