C-Falls native took down Glasgow sniper

It was supposed to be a night out with the girls. It was Alexandra Steven Burke's day off. She's a Bureau of Land Management ranger. Oversees about 1 million acres near Glasgow. Milk River country. Burke, 36, grew up in Columbia Falls. Graduated in 1991.

She worked on the bear team in Glacier National Park, then became a law enforcement ranger. Moved to Glasgow a few years back. Her mom, Cindy Moore, worked at the Belton Chalet for seven years. She now lives in Glasgow, too.

Like we said, it was supposed to be a girls' night out. Burke and her friends going out on the town. Then there was the roadblock. Burke thought it was a DUI checkpoint.

She quickly found out otherwise. The officer told her there'd been a shooting. A sniper. He was still on the lam. Killed one woman. Injured two more at the hospital — Frances Mahon Deaconess. The entire town was locked down. Burke went home. Got into uniform and her patrol rig and came back for duty. There was a game at the high school. She cleared the entire gym by herself.

Burke, the redhead, with light freckles and a smile that melted hearts.

The she heard the FBI said they had the man in a van not far from the scene. She went there, but he was gone. Infrared sensors said he was in the rig, but he'd fled. They gassed the van, thinking he was in there. All it did was make a mess. It was Jan. 17. Cold.

The shooter was Roger Sellers, 42, a loner. Kept to himself. Paid the rent at night. For whatever reason, on Jan. 17 he decided to go to the hospital and he shot and killed Melissa Greenhagen, a 37-year-old emergency medical technician and a clerk of the District Court with a .22 rifle.

She was near her truck in the hospital parking lot.

Resident Scott Billingsley saw the woman down and went running into the hospital for help. His wife, Suzanne, is a nurse there, and he had just stopped by to visit her. As they went out to help, Sellers began shooting at them. Both were hit. Scott in the thigh and Suzanne in the side.

They took cover at Greenhagen's rig and Burke said that Sellers was trying to skip the bullets off the pavement to hit Suzanne, who was hiding near a tire.

Scott was able to get his gun from his rig nearby and began shooting back at Sellers. He called 911 and officers arrived. A shootout ensued and Sellers was wounded in the hand before he got away.

Law enforcement were everywhere now, looking for Sellers. Another man from town had called police saying he did it, which wasn't the case, but pulled police in an opposite direction.

Burke and Phillip Wright, an officer with the Border Patrol, began tracking Sellers. He left drops of blood in the snow every now and again and would also backtrack to try to elude them. It was dark. The trail eventually led them to a farmhouse near the Milk River. The house had been checked before, Burke said, but the trail now was heading close to it.

Burke said there were sheep in a pen near the house. At first, they were looking at them. And then, all at once, they turned 180 degrees toward another sound.

That sound was Sellers.

They expected gunshots, immediately, but none came. Sellers was taking off along the Milk River. A canine unit joined them, along with Wolf Point officer Brian Erwin.

In the woods, they eventually found Sellers. His hand was bandaged with a cloth and he had a knife.

"Show your hands!" the officers yelled at him.

But Sellers had other plans. They let the dog after him and Sellers struck it in the mouth with the knife. The dog let go. The knife had broken off one of its teeth.

Sellers then went after the dog handler. He shot, but missed and then Sellers went after Burke.

"Go ahead and shoot," Sellers yelled as he charged after her with the knife.

She had a 12-gauge shotgun. Wright was now behind Sellers but he knew what was coming. He fell back in the snow.

Burke pulled the trigger and killed Sellers from just a few feet away. His blood sprayed her face he so close.

She cuffed him and heard his last breath.

Burke said it took a few days to recover from the incident. The last 30 seconds of the event kept playing in her head over and over again. But she's better now. Her role in the shooting only became public last week, when she was cleared by a coroner's inquest.

"I'm fine. I've never had any regrets. I feel bad for the family. He left me no choice," she said. "It was going to be me or him."

She's back at work. Of course, no stop is routine anymore. There is a heightened sense of caution. Always will be.

She said there were a lot of heroes that night. Scott Billingsley. Phillip Wright. Burke's mother can think of one, too.

"Alex is a helluva cop," she said.