Updated at 3:30 p.m. with additional information from DCI
Updated at 4 p.m. with additional information on the suspect’s criminal history
The Great Falls Police Department received a mutual aid request on Sept. 24 from Blaine County Interim Sheriff Chris Adair after his office conducted a welfare check that resulted in a felony arrest warrant for a male and a search warrant for an apartment in Harlem.
BCSO deputies secured the scene and believed the male suspect to be armed and barricaded inside the apartment.
The suspect was believed to have kidnapped his girlfriend, according to the Cascade County Attorney’s Office.
The Montana Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation said in a release that around 11:17 a.m. Sept. 24, BCSO deputies responded to a disturbance call at 223 3rd Ave. S.W., Apt. 2.
The daughter of the victim had called to report a male inside her mother’s apartment who claimed to be armed with a high-powered rifle, with her mother inside.
The caller identified the male as 38-year-old Jordan Alexander Werk, according to the DCI release.
When deputies arrived, they attempted to speak with Werk through the apartment door to locate the caller’s mother and confirm her safety. Werk refused to cooperate with law enforcement and claimed the female was not at the apartment, according to DCI.
Due to concerns of domestic violence, law enforcement obtained a search warrant for the apartment to locate the missing female, along with an arrest warrant for Werk.
CCSO, GFPD respond to armed home invasion, suspect found dead inside [2025]
Adair contacted GFPD Chief Jeff Newton, asking for a SWAT team to assist in executing the warrants, according to GFPD.
The Central Montana High Risk Unit, comprised of 22 GFPD officers and six Cascade County Sheriff’s Office deputies, left Great Falls around 10 p.m. Sept. 24 for Harlem, which is about 155 miles northeast of Great Falls.
A Great Falls Fire Rescue ambulance and emergency medical team also responded to the scene.
Since it was a possible hostage situation, BCSO also requested assistance from the Billings Police Department SWAT Team, according to DCI.
CCSO, GFPD respond to armed home invasion, suspect found dead inside [2025]
Around 1:30 a.m. Sept. 25, members of both tactical teams arrived at the scene.
Law enforcement officers worked to establish communication with Werk, hoping to negotiate his surrender and to determine the female’s condition.
Once the tactical elements were in place, they began to utilize less-than-lethal force into the residence, according to DCI.
Around 5:30 a.m. Sept. 25, Werk partially exited the residence and an exchange of gunfire took place between Werk and law enforcement, according to DCI and GFPD.
Werk sustained fatal wounds and was pronounced deceased on scene.
Two HRU members sustained non-life-threatening injuries, were treated at the scene and released.
Law enforcement searched the apartment and found the female deceased, unrelated to the officer-involved shooting, according to GFPD.
The BCSD requested that DCI investigate, which is standard practice for officer-involved shootings.
DCI is processing evidence and conducting witness interviews and is not releasing any further information at this time, according to a release.
A coroner’s inquest will be held once the investigation is completed, as required by state law.
The Blaine County Sheriff’s Office, the Valley County Sheriff’s Office, Billings Police Department SWAT Team, Central Montana High Risk Unit, Great Falls Police Department, Cascade County Sheriff’s Office, Montana Highway Patrol, Fort Belknap Tribal Police, and U.S. Bureau of Investigation responded to the incident.
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All GFPD and CCSO personnel returned safely to Great Falls on Sept. 25.
Montana’s law enforcement and emergency response community relies heavily on each other through the mutual aid system.
GFFR, GFPD train for mass casualty situations [2020]
It’s common practice for agencies to request mutual aid support in such incidents.
In the Harlem incident, the Billings Police Department’s SWAT team responded to provide additional support and serve as contingency should Cascade County’s HRU team’s operational period expire, according to GFPD.
GFFR, GFPD, CCSO train to respond to active shooter, mass casualty events [2019]
The Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team was on standby to cover any incidents in Cascade County while the local HRU team was in Harlem, according to GFPD.
Werk was convicted and sentenced in federal court in 2020 for assaulting and strangling a woman in Lodge Pole, on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in 2019, to 28 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The victim reported on April 8, 2019 that Werk had assaulted her by grabbing her hair and throwing her to the ground. Werk kicked her in the chest, punched her in the head and choked her, causing her to see stars and have trouble breathing, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She sustained a broken rib among other injuries.
“The victim also told law enforcement that during the assault, Werk told her that he knew how to hit someone to not show bruises and that if she was going to act like a victim, then he would treat her like one,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
While on federal supervision in that sentence, Werk was accused multiple times of violating his court conditions, according to court records.
He was not in federal prison as of Oct. 2024, according to publicly available records.
In 2015, Werk was federally indicted on charges of strangulation and assault resulting in serious bodily injury for a December 2014 incident on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, according to federal court records.
About a week later, the U.S. Attorney’s Office moved to dismiss the case with prejudice because, while there was probable cause to believe Werk committed the offenses, the office concluded “that the evidence is insufficient to meet the higher standard of proof for conviction of beyond a reasonable doubt on all the elements of the crimes,” according to court records.
In 2020, he appealed his conviction, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld in 2021.
