KALISPELL - Two men are in the Flathead County Jail on charges of deliberate homicide after a weekend assault on a homeless man.
Kalispell Police officers responded to reports of an assault at Appleway Drive and Meridian Road around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday.
When they arrived, they found a man with significant injuries. The victim was taken to Logan Health where he died a short time later.
The victim has been identified as 60-year-old Scott Bryan who the Flathead County Sheriff's Office reports he had no listed addresses in Kalispell.
Two teens — 18-year-old Wiley Meeker of Somers and 19-year-old Kaleb Fleck of Kalispell — were arrested in connection with his death.
MTN News spoke with the executive director of the Flathead Warming Center on Monday, who confirmed the victim was a member of the homeless community.
“This is a very sad day for our community. We can confirm that it was a homeless community member who lost their life. In times like this, what I want to talk about is community. The homeless community is a very strong community. It's very inspiring how they take care of each other. And I want to encourage our overall community to understand and to remember who we are as a community. And our motto is we take care of each other in the Flathead and I still believe that that is very, very true. Because we value every life. Every life, we value every life." - Flathead County Warming Center Executive Director Tonya Horn
The Samaritan House released the following statement on Monday, June 26, 2023:
“We are all devastated by the brutal murder of Scott Bryan, an unhoused neighbor. On Sunday, Scott was asleep until two young, but adult men, decided to beat him, film it, and post his murder online. This was an unprovoked attack on a person in crisis who didn’t fight back. We wish we would have had the chance to know him better and help him get back on his feet.
Trauma like this reverberates. We feel for his family. We feel for the staff at Appleway Conoco gas station and the first responders who had to see and experience the scene. We feel for our guests who fear this will happen to them. And we feel for the volunteers and staff at our organizations as they process this tragedy and find a way to move forward.
We’ve never had violent acts like this toward our homeless community until recently. The increased rhetoric by some community leaders and the barrage of aggressive social media comments dehumanize people who live here. It doesn’t take long for verbal assaults to turn physical.
No one type of person is homeless. Kids age out of foster care. People flee from domestic violence. People are priced out of their homes. Mental Health services in this area are at an all-time low in the valley. Hotels and other long-term affordable housing scenarios have closed, and people have nowhere to go.
Our community has only one year-round low-barrier shelter doing everything possible to keep people safe and sheltered. We know that more services and beds are needed. Samaritan House is building 18 affordable two and three-bedroom apartments, 15 apartments dedicated to veterans, expanding shelter beds, and adding a cold weather overflow shelter. This will help, but it will take time.
We urge everyone to do some soul-searching and find care and compassion for our neighbors. We must come together to give people the support they need and help Kalispell be a safer community – for everyone.”
The Kalispell Police Department is continuing to investigate.
We are working to get more information and will continue to update this story.
