After a 71-year-old man was shot to death on Valentine’s Day, his 55-year-old girlfriend is in jail on a preliminary charge of deliberate homicide.

Pamela Ruth Haines called 911 shortly before 8 p.m. to report the shooting. Three Rivers EMS was dispatched to the First Avenue North West home, where emergency workers found Haines’ boyfriend with a small-caliber gunshot wound to his chest, according to Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry.

Attempts to revive the man failed; he was declared dead at the scene.

Haines, who was living with her boyfriend was arrested and incarcerated in the Flathead County Detention Center.

Curry said the shooting followed an argument and Haines did not have any injuries. He did not know whether alcohol was a factor. Deputies searched the property Saturday morning as part of the investigation.

According to Curry, the couple had moved to Hungry Horse from California “fairly recently” and he did not believe his office had any previous contact with them.

The victim’s name is being withheld pending notification of family members. His body will be taken to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula for an autopsy.

The death marks the third violent death in Flathead County in the past three months.

On Nov. 25 in Whitefish, AnnMari Newton stabbed her husband, Chad Newton, who later died after being taken off life support. On Jan. 12, Mark Ames allegedly shot and killed Harold Gordon at his home in Marion.

In addition, on Feb. 7, Kyle Puckett stabbed and critically injured Carl Scott “Scotty” Lamar in Evergreen in an act of self-defense. Lamar survived but is on life support.

“This is still a safe community to live in,” Curry said Saturday. “Even though we have had several violent deaths in the last few months, they haven’t been random acts of violence. They have all been situations involving suspects and victims who either knew or were related to one another.”

He said those types of situations are always tough to predict and to prevent but should not make people afraid of their neighborhoods.

The increased incidence of violence has, however, increased the workload at Curry’s office.

“We’ve been very busy,” he said. “Certainly our detectives division has been very busy and they haven’t had a lot of days off in the last few weeks.”

The Valentine’s Day shooting pulled several of his employees away from their own lives, including Undersheriff Dave Leib, who was having dinner with his wife when Curry called him to respond to the Hungry Horse shooting.

“That’s the nature of this job. It really doesn’t matter what holiday it is,” Curry said. “When the phone rings, the phone rings and you need to go. That’s true of all of us here.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.