A late-night confrontation at the Snowslip Inn parking lot in Essex, Montana, ended with 36-year-old Jeremy Matthew Mckenzie shot and killed on April 16, 2022. Flathead County deputies arrived just before 11 p.m. to find bystanders rendering aid; Mckenzie was pronounced dead at the scene. Both Mckenzie and the man later identified as Joseph Pino were reportedly armed during the altercation. Detectives interviewed several people and processed evidence, and Pino was initially released.

The Flathead County Attorney’s Office later reviewed the investigation and in March 2023 announced no criminal charges would be filed against Pino, citing issues of self-defense and doubts about the likelihood of a successful prosecution based on witness accounts, search warrants, subpoenas, and a physical examination of the scene. Mckenzie, born March 29, 1986, in Gainesville, Texas, had been starting a business near Glacier National Park with his fiancée and is remembered by family as a beloved son, brother, and uncle. The Snowslip Inn has since been torn down.

Does anyone have information about that April 16, 2022 encounter or remember seeing activity at the Snowslip Inn that night?