Billings Man Doing Armed Patrols Across From School Pleads Guilty

From the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Montana:

Today, a Billings man accused of doing armed patrols on the sidewalk in front of his home, which happened to be directly across the street from a public elementary school, admitted to a firearms crime.

Gabriel Cowan Metcalf, 49, of Billings, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm in a school zone, as charged in an indictment. Metcalf faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $100K file, and three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for August 2nd, and Metcalf may be released, pending further proceedings, with conditions.

Get our free mobile app

The Timeline of Events

According to the court, from August 2nd, 2023 through August 17th, 2023, Metcalf was in possession of a 20-gauge shotgun within 1,000 feet of Broadwater Elementary School in Billings.

Metcalf lives on Broadwater Avenue, directly across from the public school. On August 2nd, 2023, Billings Police received a call regarding Metcalf pacing around with a firearm in front of his residence.

A detective saw Metcalf walk onto the property of a business that is located next door to Metcalf's home. The same day, a woman stepped outside of a nearby residence and saw Metcalf walking up the driveway and coming toward her with a firearm over his shoulder.

Multiple Billings residents saw Metcalf walking on the 400 block of Broadwater Avenue with a firearm, and on August 11th, 2023, another resident saw Metcalf standing on the sidewalk, and carrying a firearm while staring into traffic and looking directly at Broadwater School.

On August 13th, Metcalf was spotted walking West on the sidewalk, while carrying a firearm over his shoulder. On August 17th, law enforcement spoke with Metcalf, who admitted to following cars while carrying a firearm, walking to a nearby business, and escorting his mother down the street to her shop while carrying a firearm.

Metcalf informed officers he "patrolled" daily, and usually went around the block once or twice a week, but had started doing it several times a day. Law enforcement served a search warrant at Metcalf's home and seized a 20-gauge shotgun with 6 rounds of ammo. The shotgun was the firearm Metcalf described as using to patrol.

The sidewalks and streets in front of Metcalf's residence are public property, within 1,000 feet of a school, and are defined in federal law as a "school zone".