Partner: Man shot by police ‘kind,’ ‘loving’

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    Missoula, MT (Missoulian) — Jesse James Kale Brown, 34, was a parent to two daughters, and his partner, Laura Winters, said the Missoula man shot by police on Saturday night was more than his checkered past.

“He was kind. He was loving. He was always optimistic about things. He was a good dad,” she said.

Brown died Saturday after a confrontation with police. In an interview Monday, Winters said the man known to his family as Kale Brown was a good man who had trouble with the law before, and she was worried about how people would see him if they looked him up and saw he had a criminal record.

Missoula County Sheriff and Coroner T.J. McDermott identified Brown on Monday as the victim of the shooting. An earlier news release from the Missoula Police Department said an officer shot a man after he confronted police with a knife, and the man was pronounced dead the same night.

At her home on Sherwood Lane, Winters said she and Brown had been going through a rough patch, and he had recently lost his job. She also said Brown was going to stay at a friend’s house on Saturday night, but he wanted to return home to be with her and their 6-year-old and 16-year-old daughters.

When he got back to the house, she said, an argument occurred, and one of their daughters called the police.

Winters said when officers arrived, they removed her and the children from the home and took them to the front yard. As they waited there, she said she thought she heard a Taser and then gunshots. Monday morning, snow covered children’s toys scattered in the yard of the Riverside neighborhood home.

The Missoula Police Department declined to provide the Missoulian a copy of the police report from the incident pending the completion of an investigation by the Montana Department of Justice. Neither the police nor the Department of Justice have described the type of knife police said the man wielded or provided the number officers who responded or number of shots fired by law enforcement.

In an email Monday, DOJ spokesman John Barnes said that at 5:20 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a call “regarding an in-progress partner or family member assault at the 2300 block of Sherwood Lane.”

The email said officers entered the residence and saw Brown holding a knife where other family members were present. Brown reportedly refused multiple orders by police to drop the knife, and then an officer shot a Taser that “had no apparent effect,” according to the DOJ.

“The suspect reportedly attacked one of the officers, who then shot the assailant. Officers attempted life-saving measures but he died of his wounds at the scene,” said the email from Barnes.

A gofundme page created by Winters’ sister detailed that Brown “suffered from a mental health crisis on the night he died, which prompted him to act poorly when confronted with police.” It added that “The family is left to take care of the damages to the home including new flooring and drywall as well as cremation and memorial costs.”

Winters said she came home to blood spots and damaged drywall after the incident. Monday morning, part of the wall near the kitchen appeared to be patched and mismatched the rest of the paint.

In a news release Saturday night, police said officers who responded to the disturbance were “immediately confronted by a male armed with a knife.

“The male did not comply with commands to drop the knife and instead, attacked the initial responding officer.

“The officer was forced to defend himself and shot the male, who was later pronounced deceased.”

A previous Missoulian article said Brown was charged in 2010 with felony theft after he attempted to cut a bakery clerk with a knife, then threatened to kill her. The Montana Department of Corrections website noted Brown had been sentenced for a 2010 robbery and was currently listed as on probation.

The matter is under investigation by the Montana Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigations. Barnes said in an earlier email the investigation would be referred to the Missoula County Attorney’s Office, which would arrange a coroner’s inquest.

In an email about the victim, the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office offered sympathy to the family and others.

“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and all those involved during this difficult time,” said the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office.

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