Vehicle crash fatality

Montana Highway Patrol confirms that a March 23 vehicle crash resulted in a fatality.

According to the MHP crash report, a Chevrolet Silverado was traveling northbound on I-15 around 7:45 a.m. when the driver attempted to pass another vehicle, lost control, entered the median and rolled several times before coming to a rest on the passenger side of the southbound shoulder.

The 57-year-old female driver died, according to the MHP report, and the 47-year-old male passenger was transported to Benefis Hospital System for his injuries.

Teen arrested in stabbing

The Cascade County Attorney’s Office charged Anthony Afterbuffalo with felony assault with a weapon for a stabbing.

The county attorney charged the juvenile as an adult and his charging documents are publicly available.

Around 5:15 p.m. March 16, Great Falls Police officers were dispatched to an assault in the 1400 block of 10th Ave. S.

Upon arrival, officers found an adult male who had been stabbed during the assault.

The adult male was treated for injuries and released from medical care.

Officers determined that the incident started at the Town Pump with the victim’s son and his friends had some type of altercation with another group of juveniles and the victim approached that group, telling them to leave his son alone.

The victim returned to the Town Pump, where he was working at the time, and shortly after that, he was stabbed, according to court documents.

Law enforcement found a “live stream” of the incident made by one of the juveniles involved during which a male, who officers believed to be the victim, can be heard telling the juveniles to leave his son alone and quit following them, according to court documents.

A female can be heard in the video calling someone and asking them to come help because an adult had threatened her because of twins and the twins were out of the car fighting, according to court documents.

In surveillance video of the incident, the victim is seen standing in the alley south of Town Pump building when he’s approached by two people.

One of them, a male dressed in black shorts, black t-shirt, black socks and white tennis shoes with a black Nike symbol drew a large knife from his pocket and swung it at the victim twice, then ran eastbound through the alley with the knife, according to court documents.

Officers initially believed the suspect to be a different juvenile, who was detained and interviewed when he identified Afterbuffalo as the suspect and confirmed via surveillance video that the other juvenile wasn’t at the scene of the stabbing, according to court documents.

The other juvenile wasn’t at the scene, but was told afterward by another juvenile who was at the scene that Afterbuffalo had stabbed someone, according to court documents.

Detectives interviewed the victim’s son, who said that he had an altercation with Afterbuffalo and the juvenile officers initially suspected, prompting him to run to his father’s work place for help, according to court documents.

The victim’s son told investigators that he got into a fight with Afterbuffalo and the other juvenile, during which Afterbuffalo pulled a knife, but the son was able to run away. He told investigators that he didn’t know Afterbuffalo, according to court documents, and didn’t see the stabbing because his father had told him to stay in the store.

Detectives obtained surveillance footage from Jakers Bar and Grill, across the street from the Town Pump, in which a group of juvenile’s, including the victim’s son, can be seek walking westbound in the alley behind Jakers and entering the Town Pump, then walking to a White Ford Edge with the victim and interacting with the occupants of the vehicle, according to court documents.

After the victim and juveniles leave the vehicle and walk back to the Town Pump, the occupants were scene leaving the vehicle and running after the group, according to court documents.

A short time later, Afterbuffalo could be seen in the video moving through the Jakers parking lot westbound and on foot with another person and meet the vehicle in the 1000 block of 15th St. S., then running toward Town Pump where the stabbing can be scene in the distance, according to court documents.

Afterbuffalo and the second person are then seen running from the scene eastbound in a direction consistent with Afterbuffalo coming from and returning to his home, according to court documents.

Through the investigation, the GFPD obtained a search warrant for a residence in the 1600 block of 12th Avenue South and an arrest warrant for felony assault with a weapon for the juvenile suspect, according to GFPD.

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The address was believed to be the primary suspect’s residence.

On March 20, GFPD’s high risk unit was deployed to secure the residence and during the execution of the search warrant, the juvenile suspect was not located there, but while other GFPD investigators were following leads, they located the suspect on foot on 9th Street Northwest where he was taken into custody without incident.

Stabbing at Ike and Susan’s

Trevor Johnson was charged with a felony count of assault with a weapon after stabbing another man.

Around 2 a.m. March 18, GFPD was dispatched to Ike and Susan’s at 3716 2nd Ave. S. for the report of a stabbing.

When the officer arrived on scene, medical personnel were treating the victim near the westernmost door.

Witness told the officer that they had seen Johnson walking away from the scene across 2nd Ave. N. and during the interviews on scene, Johnson approached and said, “it was me, I did it,” and was taken into custody, according to court documents.

Johnson told GFPD that the victim was a mutual friend and had been bothering him throughout the night.

When the bar was closing, the victim was inside a vehicle near the western door and the two started talking. The victim left the vehicle and struck Johnson in the head, according to court documents.

Johnson pulled a knife and stabbed the victim twice, he told investigators, according to court documents.

Another officer reviewed video footage and confirmed the victim punched Johnson in the head and Johnson appeared to stab the victim multiple times in the abdomen, according to court documents.

At the hospital, officer documented multiple stab wounds resulting in what appeared to be an organ protruding outside the stomach area, as well as a stab wound in his arm and a large gash across his stomach, according to court documents.

The state request a $20,000 bond.

Vandalism

Nickalaus McCrea and James Poole were charged for breaking into a vacant apartment.

McCrea was charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor criminal mischief.

Poole was charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor accountability for criminal mischief.

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GFPD was dispatched to 1900 9th Ave. S. around 8 p.m. March 20 for reports of unknown people in unit 12, a vacant apartment unit.

The officer noticed a light on and a door ajar when he arrived. He also noticed the wood door frame was damaged and the door appeared to have been kicked in, according to court documents.

The officer tried to open the door, but it was barricaded. He began giving loud verbal commands for the people to exit the unit, according to court documents.

Poole came outside and told the officer that McCrea, who was later taken into custody by another officer, was inside.

Inside the apartment, officers noticed the smell of fresh paint and noticed a large amount of painting on the walls that the building manager told offices was new damage to the unit, according to court documents.

The men were staying in the apartment and McCrea said his friend had recommended they stay there due to the cold since he was living on the streets.

McCrea told officers that the door had been kicked in before he entered the apartment, where he painted a pot leaf on the wall “because he thought the walls needed new paint anyways,” and admitted to spray painting the walls because he likes art, according to court documents.

Poole has prior felony convictions for theft, robbery and aggravated burglary and previously absconded from probation and arrested in California on new charges there in 2020, according to court documents.

In October 2023, he was charged with methamphetamine possession and criminal trespass to property and his probation had been revoked in January and he was resentences for aggravated burglary and robbery to four years with the Department of Corrections with all time suspended, according to court documents. He still owes most of the restitution from the original sentence.

McCrea has a pending misdemeanor theft charge but no other criminal history, according to court documents.

Criminal endangerment

Eric Lee was charged with a felony count of criminal endangerment after a report of vandalism in Ulm.

The Cascade County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to 544 5th Ave. in Ulm around 11:30 a.m. on March 16 for a report of vandalism.

The victim told the deputy that there were bullet holes in the side of his enclosed trailer and the side of his shop. He said one of the bullets traveled through the wall of the shop and the spent round was lodged in an extension cord inside the shop, according to court documents.

The deputy saw bullet holes in the neighbor’s fence and while photographing them, noticed three small square straw bales stacked as a temporary target backstop, according to court documents.

The deputy “knows that any reasonable person knows or should know a small square straw bale is not a sufficient backstop for a target and will not stop the travel of a 9mm bullet,” according to court documents.

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Neighbors told the deputy they’d heard shots from the area about five weeks prior but weren’t sure where they came from and said they had not reported the gunshots to law enforcement.

One neighbor told the deputy that he had seen Lee shooting a pistol from his back deck on Super Bowl Sunday and had told him to quit shooting and he did.

The neighbor said there were six children, aged five to 12, in his backyard at the time.

Lee admitted to shooting at the target in February.

The state requested a $10,000 bond.

Lee’s criminal history includes multiple burglary convictions, probationary sentence revocations, criminal possession of dangerous drugs charges and some criminal history in California, according to court documents.

Helping a fugitive

Patricia and Echo Azure were charged for interfering with law enforcement’s effort to locate someone with a felony arrest warrant.

Patricia Azure was charged with a felony count of obstructing justice and Echo Azure was charged with a felony count of obstructing justice.

GFPD and the U.S. Marshals were working to arrest Jessey Decelles on March 20.

Echo Azure transported Decelles to a residence at 1139 5th s. S. and told her mother, Patricia Azure, that he was wanted by Probation and Parole and running from his probation officer, according to court documents.

Officers saw Decelles get out of the vehicle and enter the residence and when Patricia Azure let officers in, she said she hadn’t seen Decelles.

A probation officer said that when he arrived, Patricia Azure was at the shed behind the house doing something with the lock. but she denied being near the shed.

Eventually, she provided officers with they key, which was on a necklace around her neck, and Decelles was located in the shed.

Echo Azure was out on a $5,000 bond on a pending felony obstruction of justice charge for harboring a different wanted fugitive, according to court documents. She has prior misdemeanor convictions for disorderly conduct, two convictions for obstructing a peace office and an assault conviction.

Patricia Azure has one prior conviction for criminal trespass from 1985, according to court documents. The state requested she be released on her own recognizance with the condition that she not have contact with any witnesses in her case.

Tampering with evidence

Sadie Johnson has been charged with a felony count of tampering with evidence stemming form a May 2023 incident in which Terry Leroy Brasda, 54, and Lawrence Matthew Brasda, 31, were both been charged with felony robbery, aggravated burglary and misdemeanor theft.

According to GFPD, around 11:15 p.m. May 29, dispatchers received a call for help from a house in the 1400 block of 36th Avenue Northeast.

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As officers were responding, additional calls were made to 911, including a report of a possible gunshot and two men fleeing in a vehicle, according to GFPD.

GFPD officers arrived and found the male tenant had been assaulted by the two males who allegedly stole his firearm.

Officers learned a firearm was discharged, but no one was struck by a bullet, and the parties involved knew each other, according to GFPD.

When officers arrived, Braydon Schott walked out of the apartment shirtless and bleeding from apparent injuries to his face, according to charging documents.

A woman and two young children also walked out of the unit, according to the court documents.

The male resident told officers that he heard a knock on their door and when he answered it, the Brasdas walked in, according to court documents.