In the small community of Ferndale, Montana, a tragic and violent series of events unfolded on the evening of December 10, 2023, culminating in the death of 56-year-old Tammi Jordan. The incident, which also left two other individuals wounded, took place at a residence on Cayuse Lane.
Authorities were first alerted to a disturbance involving a man with a gun shortly after 9 p.m. A subsequent call to 911 reported that a shooting had occurred. Responding deputies from the Flathead County Sheriff's Office arrived to a harrowing scene. They discovered three gunshot victims and immediately began rendering first aid.
The three victims, including Jordan, were transported to a local hospital for treatment. Tragically, Tammi Jordan succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital. An autopsy later confirmed that her death was a homicide resulting from a gunshot wound to the head.
The other two victims, identified as Jeffrey and Heather Kislewski, were reported to be in stable condition.
At the scene of the shooting, law enforcement took a suspect into custody. He was identified as 49-year-old Matthew Thomas Vitek of Bigfork. According to court documents, the entire incident was captured on video surveillance. The footage reportedly shows Vitek in a verbal altercation with the victims before the shooting. In the video, Jordan can be heard pleading for someone to call the police. The footage then allegedly captures Vitek shooting both Jeffrey and Heather Kislewski before approaching Jordan and shooting her.
Following the incident, Vitek was booked into the Lake County Jail. He was subsequently charged with deliberate homicide for the death of Tammi Jordan and two counts of attempted deliberate homicide for the shooting of the other two victims. His bond was set at $3 million. In July 2024, Vitek changed his initial plea of not guilty to guilty as part of a plea agreement. In September 2024, he was sentenced to 100 years in the Montana State Prison for the deliberate homicide charge, with two concurrent 100-year sentences for the attempted deliberate homicide charges. The incident has been described as a case of domestic violence.
