Bozeman standoff ends in surrender

A Montana State University student who fired a shotgun at a television and into the air sparked a 7½-hour police standoff outside a Bozeman home, authorities said.

Nobody was injured and the standoff ended when 19-year-old Anthony Nolan Jackson surrendered late Saturday.

Jackson made an initial court appearance Tuesday on charges of felony criminal endangerment, being a minor in possession of alcohol and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Judge Wanda Drusch set Jackson's bail at $10,000.

Jackson admitted firing two shots in the air outside his house and another one at a television, police said. A neighbor reported seeing two men flee into the home after the shotgun was fired.

The men turned off all the lights and remained there for hours.

The Gallatin County Special Response Team evacuated neighboring houses and surrounded the house. One neighbor said he and his family were so frightened he put his children in a bathtub to protect them, according to the charging documents.

The two men surrendered after a hostage negotiator contacted Jackson by telephone. It was not immediately clear who the second man was or whether he has been charged with a crime.

Police said they found a shotgun, a large water pipe, several glass pipes and a grinder with what appeared to be traces of marijuana.

Deputy County Attorney Erin Murphy said the man's actions "caused a very, very dangerous situation."

Jackson told police that he had been drinking and he shouldn't have done it, according to charging documents.

"It was a very stupid and alcohol-related offense," defense attorney Mary Kramer told Drusch. "It was a really bad choice."