Barred From Having Guns After Riot, CO Man Shot Puma: Feds

LITTLETON, CO — A Colorado man facing 10 criminal charges, including those relating to the assault of a police officer during the U.S. Capitol riot Jan. 6, is on house arrest for shooting a mountain lion, or cougar, with a gun he wasn’t allowed to possess as a condition of his release, authorities said.

In addition to being required to wear a GPS monitor, Patrick Montgomery, 48, of Littleton, was also barred by a judge Monday from having firearms and hunting.

Prosecutors said in a motion to revoke Montgomery's release from custody that he has “repeatedly and flagrantly violated both state and federal law while on pretrial release in this case — including by possessing and using a firearm.”

The first was just days after Montgomery, a professional hunter and hunting guide, was released from custody on charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Colorado Fish and Wildlife authorities cited him for violating state hunting laws that prohibit using dogs or slingshots to hunt “fur bearers” — any animal hunted for its pelt — after a Jan. 25 hunting incident.

Authorities said Montgomery illegally harvested a bobcat after chasing it 11 miles with his dogs, knocking it out of a tree with a slingshot and then allowing his dogs to maul the cat, The Denver Gazette reported.

In the March 31 incident that prompted prosecutors to seek revocation of his release, Montgomery again used dogs to tree a mountain lion, shot it twice with a .357 Magnum pistol and then posed with the cat’s corpse, according to federal court records.

Montgomery could also face state charges because he was barred from owning firearms following a disposition of a 1996 felony robbery conviction in New Mexico, according to The Washington Post. Montgomery told Colorado wildlife officials he was “doing stupid stuff” in college, including “knocking stores over to get travel money,” according to court records.

Montgomery was arrested in Colorado on Jan. 17. Federal prosecutors said he tried to grab a police officer’s baton, wrestled him to the ground, kicked him in the chest and then “held up his two middle fingers” at the officer during the Capitol riot, according to court records.

The FBI said at the time he had posted statements about taking part in the riot on his Facebook page, and was seen in photos posted on Facebook inside the U.S. Senate chamber.

The FBI wrote in an affidavit for an arrest warrant that Montgomery had posted on Facebook, “Heading to Washington DC to check it out for myself. Figuring out what we do next moving forward.”

In the days after the Capitol riot, the FBI took thousands of tips from social media users that helped them identify people who were photographed during the insurrection. One of three tipsters who worked with the FBI to identify Montgomery said the suspect didn’t seem concerned after being told in an email he had been reported.

“I’m not a scared cat or running from anything. … Im so deeply covered by the best Federal Defense lawyers in the country,” he replied, according to the arrest affidavit.

Also according to the affidavit, Montgomery wrote in a comment thread on Facebook:

“[Y]ou guys got to quit being scared to get in trouble! The USA is in trouble! I’ll go down fighting before I’m scared anymore of getting in trouble.”