A COMMUNITY TESTED:

THE GLASGOW, MONTANA SHOOTING OF JANUARY 17, 2009, AND ITS LASTING IMPACT ON NORTHEAST MONTANA

INTRODUCTION

On the evening of January 17, 2009, the small northeastern Montana city of Glasgow became the site of the most violent criminal incident its residents had witnessed in over a generation. A gunman opened fire in the parking lot of the Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital, killing one woman and wounding two others before a prolonged manhunt ended in his death at the hands of law enforcement at a residence on the outskirts of town. The event – described by officials and witnesses alike as a sniper-style attack – shattered the quiet that had long defined daily life in this agricultural community of approximately 3,500 people situated roughly 50 miles south of the Canadian border.

For a town where homicide had not occurred in more than 15 years, the shooting represented a rupture in the fabric of community identity. What followed, however, was a story not merely of tragedy but of collective response: ordinary citizens who acted under fire, law enforcement officers who pursued a dangerous suspect through a winter night, and a community that honored its first responders, mourned its dead, and grappled with questions that small towns across America continue to ask – about safety, vulnerability, and the nature of violence in places where it is least expected.

This article draws upon contemporaneous news reporting, official governmental records, and firsthand accounts preserved in the journalistic record to construct a detailed historical narrative of the event, its principal figures, and the ways in which it resonated through the community of Glasgow and the broader state of Montana.

THE SETTING: GLASGOW, MONTANA

Glasgow is the county seat of Valley County, a vast, sparsely populated stretch of the Montana Hi-Line situated along the old Great Northern Railway corridor. The city occupies a landscape defined by the Milk River valley, rolling plains, and wide agricultural horizons. Its economy has historically centered on farming, ranching, and government employment, including nearby Fort Peck Dam and Lake, which ranks among the largest earthen dams in the world.

In the vernacular of rural Montana, Glasgow is a place where people are known to their neighbors, where the same families have farmed adjacent land for multiple generations, and where the institutions of community life – the hospital, the schools, the local government – are staffed by people whose names are familiar to nearly every resident. This social intimacy, often cited as one of the defining features of small-town life, meant that when violence arrived at the hospital parking lot on that January evening, it was not an abstraction. The victim was known. The wounded were known. The shock was immediate and personal.

THE EVENTS OF JANUARY 17, 2009

Shortly before 5:00 in the afternoon, Melissa Greenhagen, 37, a part-time emergency medical technician and clerk of the Valley County District Court, returned to the Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital after completing an emergency call. She was walking toward her vehicle in the parking lot adjacent to the hospital’s ambulance barn when she was shot. She was struck once in the chest and fell near the open door of her pickup truck. She died at the scene.

The shooting was witnessed and responded to almost immediately by Scott Billingsley, who had stopped by the hospital to visit his wife, Suzanne, a nurse employed there. According to subsequent reporting by the Billings Gazette, Scott Billingsley saw Greenhagen on the ground and ran back into the hospital for help. He and Suzanne then rushed out into the parking lot to assist her. As they reached Greenhagen, the gunman – positioned at a distance and using a gravel slope as cover – opened fire on them. Suzanne was struck in the side; Scott was struck in the hip and, later, accounts indicated Suzanne was also hit in the foot. Both took cover – Suzanne behind Greenhagen’s pickup truck, Scott behind his own vehicle parked nearby.

Dr. Michael Bush, an emergency room physician who was at the hospital that evening, later described the scene to the Billings Gazette. He had followed the couple into the parking lot but slowed on the icy pavement. He took cover behind a vehicle approximately 20 yards from the Billingsleys and watched as the gunman advanced from roughly 100 yards away. He observed the gunman at one point getting on the ground and firing beneath the vehicles in an apparent attempt to reach those taking cover. Third-floor windows of the hospital building were struck by gunfire during the prolonged exchange. Bush later described the incident as “a random act of terrible violence” and praised the response of hospital staff and law enforcement.

Scott Billingsley, who held a Montana concealed weapons permit and was armed, returned fire on the gunman, according to reporting by the Firearms Coalition and subsequent firsthand accounts. Multiple sources corroborate that Billingsley’s armed response drove the gunman back and prevented further immediate casualties. The gunman, struck by gunfire during the exchange, retreated from the scene.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE GUNMAN: ROGER LYNN SELLERS

Authorities identified the shooter several days after the incident, following fingerprint analysis, as Roger Lynn Sellers, 42, a Utah native who had relocated to Glasgow in 2005. Sellers was described by neighbors, law enforcement, and the local press as a recluse with no known associates in town. His neighbor, Grace Fullerton, told the Helena Independent Record that she had not spoken with him a single time since he moved in, though they had lived in close proximity for years. He owned a van with Wyoming license plates that had not been driven in at least a year and appeared to have no employment.

Authorities said Sellers was born in Weber County, Utah, and had lived primarily in the Salt Lake City area before coming to Glasgow. No clear motive was ever publicly established for his attack. Greenhagen’s brother, Mike Fischer, remarked to the Helena Independent Record that the ambiguity of motive was, in its own way, both relieving and unsettling: “It’s better for the town, knowing people aren’t being targeted,” he said. “But then it’s scary on the other hand, knowing this could happen. Things like this don’t happen in Glasgow.”

Following the initial shooting, Sellers exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officers who arrived at the scene. He then fled on foot, moving along the banks of the Milk River to a residence south of town. Officers followed a trail of blood through the darkness. A second armed confrontation occurred at that location. The final encounter involved Officer Alexandra Burke of the Bureau of Land Management, who had been assisting local law enforcement that evening.

Burke’s account, documented in detail by the Bigfork Eagle, provides one of the most vivid records of the manhunt’s conclusion. Burke, a Columbia Falls native then stationed in Glasgow, had been heading out for the evening when she encountered a law enforcement roadblock and immediately returned to duty. She cleared the gymnasium at the nearby high school of hundreds of spectators attending a basketball game before joining the search for Sellers. When Sellers was ultimately cornered, he advanced toward officers with a knife. Burke, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, fired at close range, fatally wounding him. Sellers died at the scene. A coroner’s inquest later cleared Burke of wrongdoing in the shooting. She described the final moments simply: “He left me no choice.”

Valley County Sheriff Glenn Meier and Glasgow Police Chief Lynn Erickson confirmed to the Associated Press that the incident represented Glasgow’s first homicide in over 15 years. The unprecedented nature of the violence reverberated immediately through the community.

IMMEDIATE COMMUNITY RESPONSE

News of the shooting moved through Glasgow with the speed characteristic of small communities where social networks are dense and personal. Residents described locking their doors and, in some cases, arming themselves. The hospital was placed on lockdown until approximately 1:00 in the morning, with 40 to 50 staff members and an undetermined number of patients inside. Law enforcement blocked all roads out of town. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway suspended train traffic along its line until the suspect was located. A high school basketball game was evacuated.

The Montana Standard reported that Randy Holom, chief executive of Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital, had been attending the hospital’s annual holiday party approximately three blocks away when he received word of the shooting. “When I got the call I thought it was a drill,” he said. The three initial victims were shot approximately 50 yards from the hospital’s emergency room entrance.

Marie Penderson, a local bartender who knew the victims, conveyed the intimate shock of small-community loss to the Associated Press: “Everybody knew who was killed and everybody knew who was hurt. We were all saying she couldn’t be dead. We refused to believe it.”

Melissa Greenhagen, the woman killed, had become certified as an emergency medical technician only the previous December, having taken on the position as a further way to serve her community. She was the mother of three boys and one girl. She also volunteered with the Boy Scouts and the Hi-Line Hockey Association. She was, in every observable respect, embedded in the civic and social life of Glasgow. The Journal of Emergency Medical Services reported that she had just returned from an emergency call when she was killed.

THE RECOGNITION CEREMONY: MARCH 19, 2009

Two months after the shooting, Glasgow held a formal community gathering to honor those who had responded to the crisis. On March 19, 2009, approximately 500 residents, officials, and family members assembled for a Service Recognition Ceremony at which 106 first responders received valor pins and Distinguished Service and Dedication certificates. The event was attended by Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock, who would later serve as the state’s governor.

The Billings Gazette reported that more than 20 agencies were represented in the recognition, including local law enforcement, fire departments, sheriff’s offices from surrounding counties, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Border Patrol, and emergency medical services crews. The breadth of the response illustrated the degree to which the crisis had mobilized resources from across northeastern Montana.

A particularly poignant moment during the ceremony came when Scott and Suzanne Billingsley were recognized. Glasgow Police Chief Lynn Erickson gave them a special acknowledgment before the assembled crowd. The Billings Gazette reported that the couple received a standing ovation. Hospital marketing director Nickolas Dirkes described it simply as “a pretty touching moment.” Despite their wounds, both Billingsleys had survived. Their actions – Suzanne running to the aid of a fallen colleague, Scott returning fire on the gunman – were widely credited with preventing additional deaths.

Governor Schweitzer’s attendance underscored the degree to which the event had reached beyond Valley County to occupy the attention of state leadership. The ceremony functioned not only as formal recognition but as a communal act of processing, giving the people of Glasgow a structured occasion to acknowledge their grief, their fear, and their pride in those who had responded.

NATIONAL RECOGNITION: TOP COPS AWARD AND THE WHITE HOUSE

The reverberations of the Glasgow shooting extended to the national stage in the months that followed. Eight law enforcement officers who had responded to the incident, tracked down the shooter, and brought the crisis to a close were nominated for the National Association of Police Organizations’ Top Cops Award, one of the most prestigious honors in American law enforcement.

The Billings Gazette reported that the officers were nominated by Glasgow Police Captain Brien Gault. The honorees included Bureau of Land Management Ranger Alexandra Burke; Glasgow Police Department officers Peter Glowacki, Robert Weber, and Tyler Edwards; Valley County Deputy William Soper; U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Phillip Wright; and Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Dan McKee. Wolf Point Police Lieutenant Brian Erwin was subsequently added to the nomination after Gault realized he had inadvertently been omitted.

The officers received their Top Cops Awards at a White House ceremony on May 14, 2010, hosted by President Barack Obama. The official White House record preserved by the Obama administration’s archives describes the Montana case with characteristic directness: “A woman was shot down in a hospital parking lot. The couple who tried to help her were also shot. When the officers arrived, they engaged the shooter but he was too far away to take down quickly. As darkness fell, the shooter fled. For the next six hours the manhunt continued. When finally cornered, the sniper pulled a knife and started toward the officers, at which point they were forced to fire, bringing him down.”

The national recognition placed the Glasgow shooting within the broader record of American law enforcement valor, acknowledging that the officers’ response under exceptional circumstances had met the highest standard of professional courage.

LASTING IMPACT ON GLASGOW AND MONTANA

The shooting of January 17, 2009, left enduring marks on Glasgow’s sense of itself. For a community that had long defined its identity in part through its safety and the ease with which families could live and raise children, the intrusion of lethal violence at its hospital – an institution that stands as a symbol of care and refuge – was profoundly disorienting.

Chief Lynn Erickson and Sheriff Glenn Meier both described to the Associated Press the unprecedented nature of the event in the local historical context. The reminder that a homicide had not occurred in Glasgow in more than 15 years prior to January 2009 speaks to the degree to which violent crime had been structurally absent from daily life. Its sudden arrival forced a reckoning with vulnerability that communities of this size and character rarely confront in such immediate terms.

The institutional response to the shooting – the multi-agency coordination, the lockdown of the hospital and high school, the suspension of rail traffic – demonstrated that Glasgow’s emergency infrastructure could be mobilized effectively under extreme pressure. The subsequent recognition of 106 individuals reflected both the scale of that mobilization and the community’s desire to formally honor those who had acted with courage.

At the state level, the incident prompted reflection on the capacity of rural law enforcement to manage active-shooter scenarios. The involvement of more than 20 agencies in the response underscored the reality that in northeastern Montana, where law enforcement resources are necessarily limited by geography and population density, mutual aid relationships are not merely useful but essential. The coordinated response that night represented years of inter-agency relationships being activated under real conditions.

The shooting also entered the ongoing national conversation about armed citizens and self-defense. Scott Billingsley’s decision to return fire on the gunman was widely discussed in firearms policy circles, and the Montana Shooting Sports Association’s president, Gary Marbut, issued a statement in the days following the attack noting Billingsley’s role in driving the wounded shooter from the immediate area before law enforcement arrived. Whether one evaluates that dimension of the event through the lens of policy advocacy or simple chronicling of fact, it represents a documented element of the incident’s historical record.

The hospital itself – Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital – continued to serve as the community’s primary medical institution in subsequent years, even as the memory of the events of that evening remained part of its institutional history. In 2023, another violent incident at the same facility, involving a hostage situation and a deputy-involved shooting, prompted local media to reference the 2009 attack in contextualizing the hospital’s troubled recent history with violence. The Billings Gazette noted in that coverage that Sellers had “fired several rounds in the parking lot of Francis Mahon Deaconess Hospital, killing one person and wounding two others” in 2009, treating the earlier event as established historical reference rather than recent news.

For the families most directly affected – the Fischer family, who lost Melissa Greenhagen; the Billingsley family, who bore wounds both physical and psychological; and Officer Burke, who took a life in the line of duty and later described the experience with quiet candor – the event’s personal dimensions extended well beyond the span of public attention. Burke told the Bigfork Eagle several months after the shooting that in the immediate aftermath, the final 30 seconds of the confrontation replayed continuously in her mind. She recovered, returned to duty, and acknowledged, “There were a lot of heroes that night.”

That acknowledgment – that heroism was distributed among many individuals rather than concentrated in any single act – perhaps best captures how Glasgow came to understand what had happened to it. The shooting was a trauma, and its effects were real. But the community’s response became, over time, a source of identity as well: proof that in a moment of extreme and unexpected crisis, 106 people had done what needed to be done, and that the town had found a way to honor them.

CONCLUSION

The Glasgow, Montana shooting of January 17, 2009, occupies a specific and significant place in the recent history of northeastern Montana. It was violent, sudden, and without clear motive – elements that make it particularly difficult to categorize or explain. It took the life of a woman who had dedicated herself to her community in multiple capacities, and it wounded two others who were attempting to help her. It tested law enforcement across a six-hour nighttime manhunt in winter conditions and ultimately claimed the life of the gunman in a confrontation that required extraordinary nerve from those present.

What followed the event was a process of community response that unfolded over months: formal recognition, state and national acknowledgment, and the quiet, private work of recovery that goes largely unrecorded in any public archive. Glasgow did not emerge from the experience unchanged. No community does. But the historical record suggests that it emerged from that experience with its civic institutions intact, its first responders honored, and its collective capacity for mutual aid demonstrated under the hardest possible circumstances.

The names of Melissa Greenhagen, Scott and Suzanne Billingsley, Alexandra Burke, and the 106 individuals recognized on March 19, 2009, constitute the human record of a January night in a small Montana city – a record that merits preservation precisely because the events it documents were unexpected, consequential, and, for those who lived through them, permanent.

WORKS CITED

Associated Press. “Suspect in Montana Slaying Dead.” The Montana Standard, 18 January 2009, https://mtstandard.com/news/local/suspect-in-montana-slaying-dead/article_159bbe41-29d8-5868-b723-223482c580b2.html. Accessed 7 March 2026.

Bigfork Eagle Staff. “C-Falls Native Took Down Glasgow Sniper.” Bigfork Eagle, 28 May 2009, https://bigforkeagle.com/news/2009/may/28/c-falls-native-took-down-glasgow-sniper-15/. Accessed 7 March 2026.

Billings Gazette Staff. “Crowd Honors Responders to Jan. 17 Glasgow Shooting.” Billings Gazette, 19 March 2009, https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/crowd-honors-responders-to-jan-17-glasgow-shooting/article_132fb517-fc88-5744-8473-d331c9cc881f.html. Accessed 7 March 2026.

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Firefighter Close Calls Staff. “Deadly Glasgow Shooting Shakes Community – Montana.” Firefighter Close Calls, January 2009, https://www.firefighterclosecalls.com/deadly-glasgow-shooting-shakes-community-montana/. Accessed 7 March 2026.

Helena Independent Record Staff. “Authorities Identify 42-Year-Old Recluse as Glasgow Shooter.” Helena Independent Record, January 2009, https://helenair.com/news/state-regional/authorities-identify-42-year-old-recluse-as-glasgow-shooter/article_c461164a-b089-54da-8a4a-51ea7f7d127f.html. Accessed 7 March 2026.

JEMS Staff. “Glasgow Woman Killed by Sniper Was Shot in the Back.” Journal of Emergency Medical Services, 20 January 2009, https://www.jems.com/2009/01/20/glasgow-woman-killed-sniper-wa/. Accessed 7 March 2026.

Knox, Chris. “Armed Defense in Montana.” Firearms Coalition, 21 January 2009, https://firearmscoalition.org/armed-defense-in-montana/. Accessed 7 March 2026.

Missoulian Staff. “ER Doc Tells What Happened Outside Glasgow Hospital as Sniper Fired on Workers.” Missoulian, 24 January 2009, https://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/er-doc-tells-what-happened-outside-glasgow-hospital-as-sniper/article_d91f0aa5-6f65-5e92-b0cf-600f2d0716ec.html. Accessed 7 March 2026.

Obama, Barack. “President Obama Honors the Nation’s TOP COPS.” The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 14 May 2010, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/video/president-obama-honors-nation-s-top-cops. Accessed 7 March 2026.