Man charged in connection to shooting

A man shot by a Lincoln County Sheriff's Office deputy last week is facing assault and criminal tampering charges.

Justice Court Judge Jay Sheffield issued a warrant charging Tristan Kirk Assance, 32, with three felony counts of assault with a weapon and two misdemeanor counts of destruction or tampering with a communication device.

County Attorney Marcia Boris laid out the events leading up to the Jan. 14 law enforcement-involved shooting in an affidavit filed in Justice Court.

Sheriff's office deputies and detectives responded to 165 Fallen Bear Lane in Libby after receiving a report of a domestic disturbance. They arrived at the property about 8:30 a.m., according to a press release.

The victim of the domestic disturbance told Detective Dave Hall that Assance had acted erratically over the past day, threatening to take her life and kill himself repeatedly. Assance became upset after his probation officer told him law enforcement would issue a warrant for his arrest.

Sentenced to nine months of house arrest in Canada, Assance violated his probation by coming to the United States.

In hopes of calming Assance down, the victim decided to take him to Libby for food. The trip did little to calm his nerves. While driving into town, Assance reached speeds of 104 miles per hour and threatened to crash the truck into another car, court documents said. The victim begged him to slow down and ultimately pulled his leg off the accelerator.

Parking near U.S. Highway 2, Assance took a walk. The victim drove back home. Around 3 p.m., Assance texted her and she made two trips into Libby to find him. The two met up at a local shop around 5 p.m. In court documents, the victim described Assance as smelling of vodka and still vocally angry when he hopped into her truck.

Back at Fallen Bear Lane, Assance built a fire in a woodshed using gasoline, court documents said. The victim said Assance began swinging a hatchet and accused her of “called the cops.” She put out the fire in the woodshed and assured him she hadn’t called the cops.

Assance later passed out on a sofa and the victim went to bed. She awoke about 2 a.m. at the sound of Assance bringing gas cans inside the house. The victim said Assance was “threatening to burn the house down, threatening to burn me with him.” When she tried to call 911, he seized her mobile phone and broke the house phone.

Assance kept saying he wanted to die and told the victim to shoot him. At one point, she aimed her .38 revolver at him, but she told authorities that it was unloaded. She was trying to get Assance to leave, she told Hall, according to court documents.

Assance then allegedly began drinking more vodka while he paced with her Glock. He pointed the gun at the victim and at his head court documents said. She convinced him to go outside for a cigarette. Assance then got in her face while holding the gun to his head and told her again he was going to shoot himself. He fired the gun and the ejected casing hit the victim, according to court documents.

Assance eventually gave the victim her phone back and said he knew she would call the cops when she went to work. He told her he was going to burn the house down. In the meantime, the victim got in touch with a friend who came to help her placate Assance.

After arriving at the house, the friend hid behind several cars and used the victim's phone to call 911. The friend stayed on the line until deputies arrived.

Neighbors recalled hearing a short volley of gunshots after deputies arrived. Shelly Taylor-Fletcher, who lives across the street, was in bed at the time.

“I heard four gunshots,” she said on Jan. 15. “Shortly after that, we saw the police and the ambulance show up.”

A few houses down, Cynda Dofelmire said she heard three or four shorts and sirens. Dofelmire said she later learned what happened from a news story on the shooting.

Sheriff Darren Short said he couldn’t comment on the details of the shooting that followed, citing the active investigation. The Flathead County Sheriff's Office and the Kalispell Police Department are overseeing the review.

Short said a team from Montana Highway Patrol would be mapping the scene. In cases involving officer shootings, Short said it was customary for law enforcement to call in an outside agency to investigate.

The morning after the shooting, a bloodstain could still be seen in front of one of the doors leading into the house at 165 Fallen Bear Lane. A pair of orange-handled EMTs shears lay nearby. Though cars were parked outside and lights were on inside the house, no one answered knocks on the door.

Following the shooting, a Libby Volunteer Ambulance crew transported Assance to Cabinet Peaks Medical Center. Alert Helicopter then airlifted him to Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Short said no one else was injured in the incident.

He said the investigation into the shooting should take 30 to 60 days to complete.

The deputy involved in the shooting is on administrative leave pending the completion of the investigation, according to Short.

Felony assault with a weapon is punishable by a fine of no more than $50,000, imprisonment in the state prison for a term not to exceed 20 years or both. Misdemeanor counts of criminal destruction of or tampering with a communication device is punishable by a fine of no more than $1,000 and imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed a year.