In the pre-dawn hours of May 16, 2017, Broadwater County Sheriff's Deputy Mason Moore, a 42-year-old Caucasian male from Three Forks, Montana, initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle traveling at high speed on U.S. Highway 287. This stop would tragically be his last. After radioing dispatch around 3 a.m., all contact with Deputy Moore was lost. When fellow officers from Gallatin County and the Montana Highway Patrol arrived on the scene, they discovered Deputy Moore's patrol car on the side of the road and found him shot and killed. He had been a deputy with Broadwater County for three years.
Investigators recovered the in-car camera from Deputy Moore's vehicle, which allowed them to identify the suspect's sport utility vehicle and broadcast the information statewide. Law enforcement in Butte-Silver Bow County soon located the vehicle, and a high-speed chase ensued, spanning over 100 miles across five counties.
During the pursuit, the occupants of the fleeing vehicle fired shots at the pursuing officers. The chase finally came to an end near Rock Creek, about 35 miles east of Missoula, after officers successfully deployed spike strips.
The suspects were identified as a father and son duo, 61-year-old Lloyd Barrus and 39-year-old Marshall Barrus. When the vehicle was stopped, Marshall Barrus, the passenger, exited the vehicle and opened fire on the officers. Law enforcement returned fire, and Marshall was wounded. He later died from his injuries. His father, Lloyd Barrus, who was the driver, was arrested at the scene and taken into custody on suspicion of deliberate homicide.
During the investigation and subsequent trial, it was revealed that Lloyd and Marshall Barrus held anti-government extremist beliefs and had talked about going on a "suicide mission" to kill a law enforcement officer. Prosecutors argued that they intentionally provoked the pursuit by speeding past Deputy Moore. Evidence showed that after initially shooting Deputy Moore, they made a U-turn and fired numerous more rounds into his patrol car. After a trial that was delayed due to questions about his mental fitness, Lloyd Barrus was found guilty of accountability to deliberate homicide and two counts of attempted deliberate homicide. He was sentenced to three concurrent life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.
