Man held on $200K bond for shooting in Great Falls

Traci Rosenbaum
Great Falls Tribune
CRIME NEWS, POLICE CAR, FOR ONLINE

A man is behind bars Monday on a $200,000 bond after a shooting in Great Falls.

Justin Tanner Varnado, 30, is charged with assault with a weapon, a felony.

The following comes directly from charging documents. The defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty.

On Aug. 11, just after midnight, Great Falls Police Department officers responded to the area of 5th Avenue South and 8th Street for a report of gunshots.

During their investigation, officers found that a group of people in a Toyota Camry had stopped in the roadway to drop off a passenger when a northbound vehicle passed them and then stopped about a block away.

Members of the group inside the Camry reportedly yelled at the other vehicle and began to approach it. When they reached the intersection, the driver of the other vehicle, later identified as Varnado, reportedly exited the car, brandished a pistol and fired multiple shots at the approaching group, hitting one person in the abdomen.

The man was returned to the Camry and taken to the hospital.

GFPD was able to obtain video from nearby houses and a business that showed the incident.

One video shows a third vehicle headed north that passed the group from the Camry and appeared to swerve around Varnado’s car and continue driving.  That car can be seen returning southbound on 8th Street South, then turning west on 4th Avenue and leaving the area.

Members of the group in the Camry indicated that the car was possibly a Honda with large rims and a loud exhaust. One of them recognized the driver but did not know his name.

The shooter’s vehicle, according to security footage, was a 1980s 2-door full-size sedan.

Police located the Honda driver the following day, who said he drove by the Camry group and returned because he thought there might be trouble. As he drove past, he said he saw a man shooting at someone from the Camry’s group and then returning to his car.

The Honda driver said he recognized the shooter as Tanner Vigils, a known alias for Varnado, who had been previously pulled over by GFPD driving a car matching the description of the shooter’s vehicle. GFPD records also contain a caution that Varnado is known to carry firearms.

“This appears to be a random, unprovoked act of violence, and this defendant appears to be a substantial risk to the community,” the affidavit stated.

The condition of the victim in the case is stable, according to the Cascade County Attorney’s Office.