by Travis Mateer

As the title of the post indicates, the name of the man shot near the airport has finally been released. Here is the reporting from the Missoulian:

The name of a robbery suspect who died in an officer-involved shooting on Aug. 27 was released on Tuesday afternoon. 

Vance Ledeau, 34, died at the Missoula Smokejumper center near the 5700 block of West Broadway Street on the morning of Aug. 27, according to a press release from Lake County Sheriff-Coroner Don Bell. Ledeau’s place of residence was not included.

The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation is continuing their investigation into the incident, Bell stated. 

Involved agencies still have not released any information regarding the alleged robberies that the victim was connected to, and it is still not clear who fired the fatal shot. 

Several agencies responded to the scene, including Missoula Police, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service Law Enforcement, Missoula airport police, Ravalli County Sheriff and Montana Highway Patrol, according to a press release from the Missoula Police Department sent out the day of the incident. 

As I scanned the headlines, NBC Montana has a survey looking at crime concerns from the electorate ahead of the midterm elections. From the link:

Crime is a major issue for voters, and folks aren’t feeling any safer as the midterm elections draw near.

A majority of Americans say they worry a “great deal” about crime, according to a Gallup poll from earlier this year. That worry has reached its highest level in six years.

“At this point, violent crime is most central to people’s minds,” Dr. Rashawn Ray, Governance Studies senior fellow at Brookings, told The National Desk via email. “With access to apps and platforms that allow neighbors to share incidents with others that don’t even make the news, people are worried about violent crime coming to their doorstep.”

Sure, it must be the apps giving people access to stories they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to raising alarm, not actual violence and our criminal justice system’s inability to hold people accountable.

Here’s a good example. Remember that mentally unstable sex offender who assaulted two MDT staff last Thursday during a trash clean up at Reserve Street? Yeah, he’s already been released back to the streets of Missoula. He was detained for just 5 days.

Zoom Town, baby! Thanks for reading!