Rollins man sentenced for 2022 shooting in downtown Whitefish

The woman wounded in a shooting outside a Whitefish bar in 2022 asked a Flathead County District Court judge to give the Rollins man convicted of pulling the trigger the maximum possible sentence on Monday.  

Claire Collingwood told Judge Heidi Ulbricht that the burst of gunfire left her with scars — physically and emotionally. Sitting on the witness stand across from 37-year-old convicted felon Wilson Dane Huyser, Collingwood recalled recovering from the ricochet that nearly left her blinded and the feeling of metal being pulled from her eye. 

Fireworks now fill her with dread, and she can’t think about attending an event without worrying it will end with her being maimed, Collingwood said.  

“At the end of the day, I can avoid the people, places and the things, but Mr. Huyser still lingers in the mirror, in the scar on my face,” she said. “Every single morning — there he is. There's his crime.” 

A jury found Huyser guilty in March of felony criminal endangerment, assault with a weapon and criminal mischief in connection to a spate of gun-related crimes across the Flathead Valley in May 2022. On Monday, Ulbricht sentenced him to a combined 30 years with five years suspended, describing him as without remorse for his actions.  

“The jury convicted you of all three counts … with a high burden of proof,” she said. “That evening you victimized a lot of people.” 

For criminal endangerment, Huyser received a 10-year sentence to the state Department of Corrections. For assault with a weapon, he received 10 years in Montana State Prison. And for criminal mischief, Husyer earned a 10-year sentence to the state prison with five years suspended. Ulbricht ordered the sentences to run consecutively. 

Ulbricht gave Huyser credit for 112 days of time served and waived court fines and fees so that he could focus on paying restitution to his victims upon completing his time behind bars. 

Authorities began searching for Huyser after he opened fire while driving in downtown Whitefish about 11 p.m., May 14, 2022. Collingwood was struck by a ricochet after he stopped outside of a popular bar, rolled down the window and pulled the trigger.  

Huyser also shot up a Chevrolet Corvette parked on East First Street as he departed Whitefish. 

About half an hour later, Huyser was tailgating a group of teenagers on U.S. 93 in Kalispell. He pulled up alongside them at the intersection of the highway and West Reserve Drive, aimed the gun and fired several times.  

The teenagers later told investigators they were amazed he missed them.  

Deputy County Attorney Lenore Bushey told Ulbricht it was miraculous no one died that night.  

“The community expects that when someone uses a weapon in a manner that endangers others that there will be meaningful consequences,” she told Ulbricht.  

ADDRESSING THE court before learning his sentence, Huyser offered few thoughts on his actions in 2022. Instead, he discussed his various medical conditions at length, hypothesizing that a virus may have altered his behavior.  

He only briefly alluded to the shootings in Whitefish and Kalispell, saying that he had been diagnosed with diabetes since his arrest and speculated that unmanaged blood sugar combined with heavy drinking “might have caused me to do some actions I am unaware of.” 

He told Ulbricht that his time spent in the county jail had served as a wake-up call and put him on a good path. 

His attorney, Natalie Bergen-Henegouwen, unsuccessfully lobbied Ulbricht to give him partially suspended 10-year sentences to all three counts with the sentences running concurrently.  

That was the punishment contemplated in the plea deal prosecutors offered before Huyser’s trial, Bergen-Henegouwen said. It would also take into account the four years Huyser spent on pretrial supervision, she said.  

She noted that these were the only felonies Huyser had ever faced and that his criminal record was otherwise “almost nonexistent." 

But before handing down the sentence, Ulbricht noted that Huyser scored high on his risk assessment, had committed multiple violent felonies involving a firearm and put the community at risk. He had also repeatedly failed to own up to the crimes, she noted.  

“The court also is making a finding there isn’t any accountability on your behalf or any remorse for what happened that evening to the victims,” she told Huyser. 

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 406-758-4430 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.