ROUNDUP — On Wednesday evening, shots rang out in Roundup, striking a pickup truck. Neighbors say it was something way out of the ordinary for their small town.
“Normally it’s pretty quiet,” said Zack Dodd, a Roundup resident, on Friday.
Talk to people in Roundup and many will tell you they live there for a common reason.
"The safety for my kids," said Davie Salveson, a Roundup resident, on Friday. "I’ve raised three kids here, so that’s important."
But on Wednesday evening, that sense of security was ripped away.
"Very scary," Dodd said. "Not something that we normally witness at all."
According to the Musselshell County Sheriff’s Office, shots were fired at a vehicle parked on Fifth Avenue West in town. Suspects have been identified but no arrests have been made. The sheriff told MTN News it was not a drive-by shooting, but rather an "act of vandalism with a firearm".
"It was about 8:39. My brother-in-law came out to smoke a cigarette, came with him. We were looking over here, a truck stopped there and then we heard two gunshots,” Dodd said on his porch. "I feel like if you were in a car, you just randomly stop and shoot, kind of sounds more like a drive-by than a vandalism."
Dodd had just finished a workout with his brother-in-law when they stepped onto their porch and into the commotion.
"We ended up ducking inside. We’re guessing (they used) a shotgun because there were only two pops," Dodd said. "(My brother-in-law) caught a glimpse of the truck. It was a white truck."
The investigation is ongoing, leaving residents fearful for the future of their small town.
“It was very hard to sleep at night," said Dodd. "That night we were also kind of told that there was no further investigation at that moment."
Salveson was also worried following the shooting.
"It’s scary,” Salveson said. "There’s obviously evidence of the crime."
Salveson started a Facebook group for Roundup residents five years ago that quickly took off. It now has over 4,000 members. She hoped the group would be a way to communicate important information among community members and it does just that. On Wednesday, Dodd posted to the page alerting his neighbors about what he witnessed. Salveson was shocked when reading the comments on his post.
"Those people (posting) knew what they were talking about since they were outside their home when the shooting happened. And you know, the thing I can’t understand is, there were multiple people that saw the suspect’s vehicle and saw him doing this and there has not been an arrest made. He is not in jail,” Salveson, a close friend of the family whose vehicle was shot, said. "You get those few people that are just ragging on whoever posted it, you know like wives of some of the deputies and things like that. And people that just don’t know. New people."
Salveson said she is frustrated over the lack of movement in the investigation, claiming with witnesses and evidence it should make for an easy arrest.
MTN News attempted to reach Sheriff Shawn Lesnik for further comment on Friday but was informed he was out of the office.
"The family that’s been affected by this was told to relocate their family for a little while by a deputy," Salveson said. "The family is scared."
Salveson and Dodd hope justice will be served.
"Roundup’s normally just a very quiet town," Dodd said. "You hear something like that, you would expect a firework in Roundup. You don’t expect a gunshot."
