Missoula Weekly Crime Report: Lowest Number of Cases Since 2022

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Attorney’s Office filed six new felony complaints this week, which is 11 fewer than last week and significantly lower than the weekly average. According to County Attorney Matt Jennings, that’s their lowest number since 2022. 

“With that six, because it was so quiet, a couple of these are sort of older cases that take more work and time to piece together before we can charge,” Jennings said. “For instance, there was a burglary from almost a year ago. We were waiting on some things from the crime lab. We never quite know the reasons why some weeks can be really busy and crazy, and some weeks can be quiet. But it's nice to see, and we always hope it continues.” 

Jennings said there were three violent crimes this week. 

“Two of those were family violence, and one was non-family violence,” Jennings said. “That's pretty average. Most of the violent crimes we see are actually folks that know each other, and sadly, usually in the same household or family members. We had one endangerment crime that was a high-speed chase. They were driving speeds over 100 miles an hour through school zones.” 

READ MORE: Missoula Man Drives 100 MPH in a School Zone in a Stolen Car

Jennings also mentioned that these types of cases are pretty common. 

“Boy, they leave me scratching my head,” Jennings said. “They often start with something like a traffic violation or something pretty minor, and then all of a sudden they escalate into really dangerous behavior. People do get killed by this, but luckily, no one got hurt in this case. But this person did get some felonies out of it. I don't know why they do that, but we hold them accountable when they do.” 

Jennings said they don’t mess around when it comes to dangerous driving around kids and schools. 

“Young folks aren’t always able to take in all their surroundings and avoid that danger themselves,” Jennings said. “They're obviously smaller, too. Sadly, every couple of years, a kid does get hit by a car here in Missoula. We take those really seriously. We charge those through gritted teeth with frustration that people do this and that would put somebody else in harm's way because of their own dumb decisions.” 

Jennings said he will have a full 2025 crime report in the next few weeks. The Missoula County Attorney’s Office provides a weekly crime report every Friday morning at 9:00 on Talk Back.