Rifle homicide suspect arrested in Oregon
Rifle Citizen
Courtesy Photo
After nearly six months, the main suspect in the Rifle homicide that occurred in late March this year, Michael Francis Montgomery, was apprehended in Oregon just before 4 p.m. Monday.
Wanted for the slaying of his son-in-law Christopher Gallegos, 28, Montgomery was arrested by officers with the Ontario Police Department and the High Desert Drug Task Force leaving an Ontario-area church.
Ontario, in southeastern Oregon, is in a remote area near the state’s border with Idaho. It is believed Montgomery, whose arrest warrant went out last March, fled Rifle and camped near the Snake River outside of Ontario to avoid capture.
Rifle Chief of Police Tommy Klein said that Montgomery did not resist arrest.
“We are happy that he has been apprehended and will stand trial for the murder of Christopher Gallegos,” Klein said.
Gallegos died from a gunshot wound to the head on March 29 outside an apartment building on the 2600 block of Acacia Avenue in Rifle.
The shooting is the only homicide in Garfield County so far in 2017.
The investigation remains open.
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