Arrests made in Helena motel shooting death

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The Latest on a fatal shooting at a Helena motel (all times local):

2:50 p.m.

Law enforcement officers have arrested the suspect in a shooting death at a motel in Helena.

Police told the Independent Record (bit.ly/2jqJ8n0) that 41-year-old Brandon James LeClair was arrested Wednesday in Boulder.

LeClair was the subject of an arrest warrant for deliberate homicide in the death early Wednesday of 31-year-old Kenneth Purcell.

Officers also arrested a 30-year-old woman - Travis Holly Stephens - on suspicion of felony criminal possession of methamphetamine. Court records said she told police that LeClair and Purcell had a physical fight before the shooting.

1 p.m.

Lewis and Clark County officials have released the name of a 31-year-old man who was shot to death at a Helena motel.

Police are seeking 41-year-old Brandon LeClair on a warrant that charges him with deliberate homicide in the death of 31-year-old Kenneth Purcell. The Independent Record reports (bit.ly/2jy2tjF) a woman told police the two men had been involved in a fight before the shooting at 1 a.m. Wednesday.

The woman said she and LeClair had driven to the Helena motel from Butte Tuesday night, but she would not say why. She said Purcell also was in the room at the Motel 6.

She said the two men argued, Purcell hit LeClair in the head with a whiskey bottle and then kicked him.

Court records say she told police the men continued to fight as they went out into the parking lot, and she heard gunfire. She said she did not witness the shooting, but saw LaClair run away.

11:25 a.m.

A 31-year-old man was shot to death at a Helena motel early Wednesday and a judge has issued an arrest warrant for Brandon LeClair on a deliberate homicide charge.

Helena police say the shooting was reported just before 1 a.m. Officers found the victim in the parking lot of the Motel 6. His name hasn’t been released.

Justice of the Peace Michael Swingley set LeClair’s bond at $250,000, the Independent Record reported.

LeClair is a 41-year-old white man with a felony criminal record. He is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 155 pounds. He has short brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black jacket. Officers caution he may be armed.

LeClair, who lived in Billings at the time, was sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2007 after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He had been convicted in federal court in 1999 for possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute and was sentenced to just over three years in prison. LeClair completed his probation in November 2014, according to federal court records.

An arrest warrant with a $50,000 bond was issued in Deer Lodge County after LeClair failed to appear in court in early November for a felony drug possession charge, court records show. LeClair is named in another arrest warrant in West Yellowstone, police said.

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Information from: Independent Record, https://www.helenair.com