Kalispell shooting suspect given suspended sentence

A 23-year-old arrested for allegedly shooting and wounding another man in a Kalispell hotel last year received a suspended sentence earlier this month.

Prosecutors initially charged Garrett Drew Murray with two counts of felony assault with a weapon following the alleged Feb. 7 2023 shooting near U.S. 2. They amended the charges to a single count of felony criminal endangerment in January after Murray agreed to a plea deal. 

Murray pleaded no contest to the amended charge in Flathead County District Court before Judge Danni Coffman on Jan. 18. 

Coffman handed down a suspended five-year sentence to the state Department of Corrections on March 7. She gave Murray credit for 179 days of time served, and waived court fines and fees owing to the 23-year-old’s inability to pay.

Authorities arrested Murray during a traffic stop on Appleway Drive while investigating the reported shooting at a nearby hotel about 1:42 p.m., according to court documents. The victim, who suffered a wound to his lower abdomen near his right hip, told Kalispell Police officers that he awoke in a shared hotel room to a gun-wielding Murray yelling at him. 

Murray allegedly fired the gun at his hip while shouting that he needed to leave. 

Another person in the room corroborated the victim’s version of events and accused Murray of threatening him with the gun as well, court documents said. 

During the subsequent traffic stop, investigators recovered a black pistol in Murray’s vehicle, court documents said.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com. 

    Law enforcement investigate a vehicle along Appleway Drive near the scene of an alleged shooting at a hotel on U.S. Highway 2 West in Kalispell on Tuesday, Feb. 7. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider