Missoula Crime Report: Huge Rise in Fentanyl-Related Overdoses

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed 15 new felony complaints this week, which is the same as last week and slightly lower than the weekly average. According to County Attorney Matt Jennings, there were eight violent crimes. 

“We obviously prioritize these, but almost all these violent instances involve drugs or alcohol,” Jennings said. “I just always remind people, almost every week, it's one of the reasons that we target substance abuse so much in our criminal justice system. It's not always the best way to deal with people's addiction, but sometimes it's the only way. We do that because we see the other criminal behavior and people getting hurt from it.” 

In addition, there were four endangerment crimes, one drug crime, one property crime, and one administrative crime. Jennings also wanted to highlight the fact that his office has done four coroner’s inquests this month. Three were suicides and one was an officer-involved shooting. 

“Sometimes we forget some of the things that our first responders and law enforcement have to go through. Not only being put in a position where they have to use force or deadly force in a violent instance but also dealing with people that are dealing with trauma or mental illnesses and may even commit suicide. The stress and PTSD that can cause for some of our law enforcement weighs heavily on them. They get into these professions because they want to help people and then sometimes often find people in these terrible situations where they're getting hurt, being unsafe, or even taking their own lives.” 

Jennings also mentioned there have been many overdoses in Missoula County recently. 

“There are some things that are being added to fentanyl that have been pretty popular back east,” Jennings said. “We've expected them to make their way out here for some time and it seems like perhaps they've arrived. We had a whole bunch of overdoses just last week. We had two people die of overdoses and a third person was hospitalized. Law enforcement responded to multiple other areas where people were basically incapacitated or unconscious because of that. Parents, talk to your kids, friends, talk to your friends. If you're struggling with addiction, reach out and call someone. It's not worth it and there is help out there.” 

READ MORE: Missoula News - Crime Reports

According to Jennings, most of the fentanyl, meth, and heroin making its way to Montana is coming from Mexican labs through cartel behavior. 

“That doesn’t mean there are large criminal gangs in Missoula,” Jenning said. “In fact, you would find that most of the people that are selling and using this stuff are locals. They're people that grew up here. They have connections to the community, but they somehow got involved in sort of an illicit and illegal drug business that moves up the western side of the state, has some hub points in Washington, and then starts moving east from there.” 

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office provides a weekly crime report every Friday morning at 9:00 on Talk Back. You can listen to Jennings’s full report below: