Missoula Crime Report: Four Assault With a Weapon Cases This Week

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed 12 new felony complaints this week, which is down significantly compared to the past five weeks. County Attorney Kirsten Pabst said her office welcomes the lower number and hopes it is a sustained trend.

“Eight of the cases this week involved crimes against persons and five of those involved partner or family member assault type crimes,” Pabst said. “There were two PFMAs, two strangulation cases, and one assault with a weapon. We filed four total assault with a weapon cases. One involved a family member and three involved non-family members. Two of the assault with a weapon cases involved allegations that a knife was wielded or used, and the other two involved a firearm.”

In addition, Pabst said there was one criminal endangerment case and two cases involving driving under the influence of methamphetamine. Crime numbers are typically hard to track, but Pabst said spikes do occur during certain times of the year.

“We definitely see a correlation between our weekly, monthly, and annual numbers,” Pabst said. “We see spikes during significant periods of stress. Whatever causes that, whether it be the pandemic, whether it be smoky weather, extreme heat waves, and extreme cold as well. So many factors influence people’s criminal behavior.”

You can listen to Pabst’s entire report below.