Woman charged after hostage situation at Chubbuck motel

CHUBBUCK — A Melrose, Montana, woman police say fired a gun inside a motel lobby and threatened to shoot several people now faces four felonies.

Rebecca Lynn O’Connell, 40, has been charged with discharging a firearm inside an occupied building and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She has also been charged with a misdemeanor for malicious injury to property, court documents show.

O’Connell called Chubbuck police just after midnight on Nov. 4. She said she had accidentally shot herself while staying at a motel on the 100 block of West Burnside Avenue, according to an affidavit of probable cause. While en route to the call, officers were informed that O’Connell was still armed and was threatening to shoot people who approached her.

When they arrived at the motel, officers approached the lobby using ballistic shields and with guns drawn.

According to police reports, as officers approached the lobby, they could see a woman they later identified as O’Connell pacing the room. Reports show that O’Connell was carrying a gun in her right hand and at least one person, a motel employee, was inside the lobby with his hands raised.

O’Connell didn’t realize the officers were there, and she walked out of the lobby. Once outside, and seeing officers were present, O’Connell dropped the gun and followed officers’ instructions to back away from the gun and put her hands in the air, the affidavit states.

During a patdown, O’Connell was found to have a folding knife.

Officers requested EMS check O’Connell’s injury, which reports describe as a superficial cut on her hand.

Once medically cleared, O’Connell agreed to speak with officers.

She said her boyfriend was trying to kill her and had been supplied a towel with chloroform by motel staff. Despite this assertion, O’Connell claimed her boyfriend gave her a revolver for protection, and she accidentally fired it inside the lobby. Asked if she was holding a motel worker hostage, O’Connell only responded by saying that the worker had given her boyfriend a chloroform towel.

It is unclear in court documents if the boyfriend existed.

When she was asked about threatening to shoot people who approached her, O’Connell responded, “People are trying to kill me, and if anyone came near me I was going to shoot them,” the affidavit says.

O’Connell added that in her state of panic, she pulled a fire alarm.

“It should be noted that Rebecca states she used methamphetamine at approximately noon,” police reports say.

While O’Connell was being interviewed by some of the officers, others spoke with victims and witnesses. Several said they heard the fire alarm and headed toward the lobby for safety. They said that as they approached the lobby, O’Connell pointed the gun at them and threatened to shoot. One victim noted that the gun was cocked at the time of the threats.

Due to the cold weather, O’Connell was placed in the back of a police cruiser while officers continued investigating.

At one point, an officer saw that O’Connell was banging her head against the inside of the cruiser. The officers secured her for her own safety.

Officers noted that O’Connell was in a state of paranoia. She thought she was going to be shot and that EMS were there to hurt her.

She was taken to Bannock County Jail, where she is being held on a $75,000 bond.

Though O’Connell has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

If she is found guilty, O’Connell could face up to 31 years in prison.

She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before Magistrate Judge Todd Garbett on Nov. 17.