Authorities launched a manhunt Friday after a shooting at a Montana bar left four people dead. The shooting happened around 10:30 am on Friday at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, according to the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, which is leading the investigation.

The agency confirmed four people were pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect, who was identified as 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown, lived next door to the bar, according to public records. Authorities said his home was cleared by a SWAT team and that he was last seen in the Stump Town area, which is just west of Anaconda.

More than a dozen officers from local and state police converged on that area, where they appeared to be searching for the suspect in the woods. Brown was believed to be armed, the Montana Highway Patrol said in a statement. Anaconda is about 75 miles (120 kilometres) southeast of Missoula in a valley hemmed in by mountains to the north and south. A town of about 9,000 people, it was founded by copper barons who profited off nearby mines in the late 1800s. A giant smelter that's no longer operational looms over the town.