Unsheltered people in Kalispell are banding together to stay safe after one man was beaten to death in late June. The killing of 60-year-old Scott Bryan wasn't the end to violence against the homeless in the region.
Jessi Green, a 45-year old veteran with a peppered gray beard, walked down a local bike path as the sun set on a band playing at a park in downtown Kalispell. Green fell on hard times when he hurt his back, making it hard for him to work. He’s lived on the streets of Kalispell off and on for decades.
Lately, he walks the local trails when it starts to get dark to check on unsheltered people he knows as they head to camp.
“It was right when Scott died. I didn’t feel the need to do that before,” Green said.
According to police, Scott Byan, who lived unsheltered in Kalispell, was beaten to death this summer in a gas station parking lot.
Police say 19-year-old Kaleb Fleck beat Bryan and then bragged about it on a video posted to social media. Fleck has pleaded not guilty to the charge of deliberate homicide.
Bryan’s murder was infuriating for Green and other unsheltered people, especially after Fleck was bailed out of jail by a former state lawmaker with white supremacy ties.
“Scott had brain injuries. He beat cancer. He had a lot of things wrong with him and he was very small in stature. To me, you a punk because you target individuals like that or you wait until individuals are vulnerable and then you target them,” Green said.
Green attributes recent attacks and violence to an open letter that the Flathead County commissioners wrote early this year saying homeless people were a cost to taxpayers and calling for the closure of local shelters. The letter claimed, without evidence, they were attracting people from out of state.
Local shelters said nearly all of the unsheltered population are locals struggling to afford housing.
Green descended a hill into Woodland Park. As he walked down the trail, there were clothes drying on a line, sleeping bags and other evidence of camps.
“Look, you see that? You know somebody be over here,” Green said.
Green said people are scared and it’s become harder to find folks he knows.
“They’re hiding,” Green said.
Green and homeless advocates said unsheltered people are still threatened with violence. That’s why Green takes his nightly walk.
Under the shade of towering pine trees in Woodland Park, Mary Doxey walked back to her apartment doing some errands. Doxey has housing right now, but has fallen in and out of homelessness over the years and knows much of the unsheltered community.
“I’m walking by myself, and I got no pepper spray and I had to walk all the way ... " Doxey said.
“You just stubborn. You know what it is. You just stubborn,” Green said to Doxey.
She knows the risk she’s taking. Two months ago, she said a group of young men attacked her and a friend.
“They kicked Jimbo in the head and kicked him in the ribs. They were surrounding me,” Doxey said.
She ran away and called 911.
The National Coalition for the Homeless said violence against unsheltered people is increasing as homeless populations grow alongside soaring housing costs nationwide.
Flathead County is among the fastest growing populations in the country. According to the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, home prices in Flathead County have gone up by nearly 50% since 2020.
There’s also a shortage of rentals and the local emergency shelter has seen the population it serves double to more than 300 people last winter. That’s led to more people living on the streets when beds fill up.
Community members are stepping up to support unsheltered people.
At a grocery store, not far from where Scott Bryan was murdered, Jason Bell and some friends picked up water, bug spray and energy bars to hand out to the unsheltered locals.
Bell works with homeless populations as part of his day job. He knows that as housing here becomes more unaffordable, more people will fall into homelessness.
He started joining a group of friends for regular walks to hand out essentials and check in on unsheltered people after Scott Bryan was killed.
“We didn’t know what to do, especially after such a big situation. People were attacked prior and we knew that was going on. But just something had to be done,” Bell said.
Bell said it’s not just about handing out supplies. They want to show the unsheltered community that people care about how they’re doing.
As they walked across a parking lot, they saw a young woman they regularly meet who told them she just found housing.
She nearly tackled each member of the group as she hugged them in excitement. It’s one bright spot before they continued down the trail to let others know they’re here to support them.
