No major changes in how the SWAT team responds to incidents involving suicidal people have been implemented in the wake of the Oct. 10 Michelle Gentry shooting, Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said Friday.

A summary of a Kalispell Police Department investigation into the incident released Friday indicated that Deputy Caleb Pleasants, the leader of the SWAT team, was never advised that Gentry had told law enforcement she intended to commit “suicide by cop” until after he shot her.

“There are actually two different debriefings we do following every incident,” Curry said. “The first is with just the team, which is more tactical. Such as ‘maybe next time I want you to be positioned here.’ Then there’s one that’s done administratively that involves the team commander, the team leader and the administrative staff.”

Curry said that although Pleasants was not aware of Gentry’s intentions, every other member of the SWAT team had been told.

“I don’t see that as real pertinent,” Curry said Friday afternoon, later adding, “I think they all have that potential. ‘Suicide by cop’-type statements are pretty much universal. It’s not an unusual thing for us to hear. I don’t know that that would change in any way how we would respond to a certain situation or how he would respond.”

He said Pleasants was the last of the SWAT team members to arrive at the scene and most of the team was in position by the time he showed up.

“He received a brief, and those are pretty quick,” Curry said.

Pleasants received that briefing from Undersheriff Dave Leib, the SWAT team commander.

Curry said the SWAT team was dispatched to Gentry’s home because she was armed and barricaded inside her home.

“Our intent was to set up a perimeter and contain the situation,” he said. “The concern in any sort of barricade situation is that we contain the situation, that it doesn’t wind up becoming a mobile situation, especially with darkness approaching.”

He added that law enforcement’s goal is always to resolve situations with the least amount of force possible.

“Unfortunately, if you point a weapon directly at a law enforcement officer in pretty much any jurisdiction in any state in this country, that’s going to be responded to with force that is potentially lethal. I’m happy that didn’t occur in this case,” he said.

Pleasants fired 15 rounds from an AR-15 rifle; two of the rounds hit Gentry. She survived and has been charged with felony assault on a peace officer because she allegedly raised her own weapon while advancing.

Curry later said that he didn’t believe this case would affect the way deputies responded to incidents or whether or not people would report incidents of the type involving Gentry.

“We always try and do our very best to resolve every situation that we deal with peacefully and without it escalating to the extent that this case escalated to. None of our people ever want to be placed in this sort of situation,” he said. 

“However, on the other hand, we certainly don’t want to let things go to the point where our law enforcement officers are losing their lives, either.”