Columbia Falls standoff ends after arrival of SWAT team
CHRIS PETERSON | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 17 hours, 15 minutes AGO
Chris Peterson is the editor of the Hungry Horse News. He covers Columbia Falls, the Canyon, Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. All told, about 4 million acres of the best parts of the planet. He can be reached at [email protected] or 406-892-2151. | February 24, 2026 11:00 PM
A Columbia Falls man is in custody after allegedly threatening family members with a sword and rifle over the weekend.
At about noon on Feb. 21, the Columbia Falls Police Department responded to a report of a disturbance with a weapon in the 400 block of Third Avenue West. Responding officers determined an assault had taken place with a sword and a firearm. The two victims got out of the residence uninjured, leaving the 54-year-old male suspect alone in the home.
Despite multiple attempts by officers to convince the suspect to surrender, he refused and remained in the home, according to press release issued by the Police Department.
Officers requested assistance from the Northwest Montana Regional SWAT Team to assist in taking the suspect into custody. The suspect eventually emerged from the home and confronted SWAT Team members, officials said.
The suspect allegedly refused to follow commands and was subsequently taken into custody by using less lethal munitions, which were fired behind him, and a canine, which took the man down. The man suffered a few scratches and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
He was booked into the Flathead County Detention Center on two assault with a weapon charges and resisting arrest.
He was later identified as David Erik Silverstein.
Police Chief Chad Stephens said there are mental health factors in the case.
Stephens noted that bringing in the SWAT team under these circumstances often ends in a peaceful resolution, as it has many more tools available that a patrolman doesn’t have.
The Northwest Montana Regional SWAT Team is made up of members of the Whitefish Police Department, Kalispell Police Department, Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and Polson Police Department. Stephens thanked them for their efforts.
ARTICLES BY CHRIS PETERSON
Friday was Richard Day
I first met Richard Garlough in 1998. He was one of the first features I wrote for the newspaper. He was walking around town and I think I stopped and took his picture, I can’t remember exactly, but he got to telling me his story about how he used to smoke a couple packs of Camels a day, had a heart attack before the age of 60 and had to change his ways after open heart surgery.
Slope fix won’t be as bad as first thought
A city-owned slope might not be as difficult to fix as first thought, according to a report by Cliff Clark of Alpine Geotechnical.
Family talks history, future of Cattle Baron Supper Club with plans to rebuild
Sunny skies welcomed an unusually warm day on Feb. 5 at the intersection of BIA Route 3 and U.S. Highway 89 on the Blackfeet Reservation. But a chilly breeze kept things from being temperate as Charlene and Bob Burns surveyed the cleared space of what had, for more than three decades, been the Cattle Baron Supper Club. The structure burned to the ground in an electrical fire on a very windy night on Jan. 14.