A Lincoln County sheriff's deputy and a woman were shot and killed on Friday night, October 30, at a home in Eureka, Montana, after the deputy and a city police officer answered a disturbance call — and the man authorities accuse of the shootings then allegedly fled south on U.S. Highway 93 with a young girl in his vehicle, firing at pursuing deputies and disabling two patrol cars before he stopped at a roadblock and surrendered, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said.
Source: Police1, reporting the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office account, Oct. 31, 2026
Deputy Ryan Terpsma, 28, died at the scene at 118 Lone Pine Trail. The Eureka Police Department officer who responded with him was also shot and suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Sheriff Darren Short said. Investigators later found a second person dead at the home: Merrisa Walker, 46, who had also been shot, according to the sheriff's office.
Source: Daily Inter Lake, via Whitefish Pilot, Oct. 31, 2026
The call on Lone Pine Trail
Terpsma and the Eureka officer went to the home at 118 Lone Pine Trail in Eureka, a small town in Lincoln County in Montana's far northwest, close to the Canadian border, at about 8:23 p.m. on Friday after a report of a disturbance, the sheriff's office said. Both officers were met with gunfire at the scene. Terpsma was shot and killed there, and the Eureka officer — who has not been named in the releases — was wounded. Authorities have not publicly said what sparked the disturbance, or how the people at the home were connected to one another.
Source: Police1, reporting the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office account, Oct. 31, 2026
A young girl at the home was also injured and was treated at the scene and released, Sheriff Short said. In line with the protection owed to a child, she is not being named. The sheriff's office said the suspect, identified as Matthew David Dye, 50, of Kalispell, left the scene in a vehicle with a 7-year-old girl and drove south toward Kalispell. Dye's alleged role is a matter for the courts: he has been accused by authorities, not convicted, and the charges against him had not yet been filed when the sheriff spoke on Saturday.
Source: Daily Inter Lake, via Whitefish Pilot, Oct. 31, 2026
The pursuit south on U.S. Highway 93
Deputies from the neighbouring Flathead County Sheriff's Office located the vehicle and pursued it on U.S. Highway 93, the main north–south highway linking Eureka and the border country with Kalispell and the Flathead Valley. During the pursuit, authorities say, Dye fired at the deputies, disabling two patrol vehicles, and Flathead County deputies returned fire. A roadblock was set up on the highway, and Dye stopped just before it and surrendered, according to the sheriff's offices.
Source: Police1, reporting the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office account, Oct. 31, 2026
The Flathead County Sheriff's Office said the girl in the vehicle was unharmed when the pursuit ended. No pursuing deputy was reported injured in the releases. For drivers and truckers who use U.S. 93 — one of the principal road corridors between northwest Montana, Kalispell and the Canadian border — the chase turned an ordinary Friday-night highway into the second crime scene of the night, with two patrol cars knocked out of service by gunfire before the surrender.
Source: Daily Inter Lake, via Whitefish Pilot, Oct. 31, 2026
Known from official releases: two people, Deputy Terpsma and Merrisa Walker, were killed at the Lone Pine Trail home; a Eureka officer was wounded; a child at the home was treated and released; the suspect surrendered after a pursuit on U.S. 93. Not yet explained by authorities: what the disturbance was about, and the relationships among the people at the home. Those questions are part of the state investigation now under way.
A deputy five months into the job
Terpsma had joined the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office as a deputy only in May 2026. Before that, he worked as a detention officer with the Flathead County Sheriff's Office from December 2024 until May 2026, the Flathead County agency said as it extended condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and the Lincoln County community.
Source: Police1, reporting the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office account, Oct. 31, 2026
Sheriff Short announced the death on Saturday, October 31. “It has been trying times in Lincoln County during the last year,” Short said in the release. “We are all deeply affected by the loss of Deputy Terpsma but know we can count on our community to support the Sheriff's Office and each other as we grieve the loss of this fine young man.” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen also paid tribute, saying in a statement reported by the Great Falls Gazette: “Lincoln County Deputy Ryan Terpsma answered the call and made the ultimate sacrifice in service to his community.”
What happens next
Dye is being held in the Flathead County Detention Center with a deliberate homicide warrant pending, according to the Daily Inter Lake's reporting of the sheriff's account. Sheriff Short said charges will be filed next week, and Dye is expected to have an initial hearing in Lincoln County Justice Court. The Montana Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation will lead the investigation, at Sheriff Short's request — the standard arrangement in Montana when a local agency's own deputy is killed, so that the case is examined by investigators outside the grieving department.
Source: Daily Inter Lake, via Whitefish Pilot, Oct. 31, 2026
Until that investigation is complete, the public record in this case is the sheriff's preliminary account, and it may change as state investigators interview witnesses and examine both scenes — the home on Lone Pine Trail and the stretch of U.S. 93 where the pursuit ended. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when charges are filed and when the state releases its findings.
Source: Police1, reporting the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office account, Oct. 31, 2026