The victim in Sunday morning’s fatal shooting has been identified by the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office.

Public Information Officer Brenda Bassett has the details.

“This morning, the Sheriff and Coroner released the name of the individual who was shot at a residence in Missoula in Sunday morning as 49 year-old Jessa M. Cooper of Missoula,” said Bassett. “We had worked on the coroner part of this investigation with the city, but it is my understanding that the matter has been passed over to the Department of Criminal Investigation of the Montana Department of Justice.”

DCI spokesman John Barnes explained why his organization has taken charges of the investigation.

“The State Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the incident at the request of the Missoula Police Department,” said Barnes. “It’s not uncommon for us to be called to investigate officer involved shootings. Oftentimes agencies want someone to come in who wasn’t involved for an outside perspective. We’ve worked on a number of these and we’re working on this one, as well.”

Barnes said no other details would be released until the investigation is completed.

“Once it is done, we will give the investigative file to the Missoula County Attorney’s Office, and a Coroner’s Inquest will then be scheduled and held,” he said. “That’s all just standard procedure, so that’s what’s going on at this point.”

The incident occurred on Sunday morning after Missoula Police were called to a residence in the 600 block of Blaine Avenue.

As officers were enroute, they received a report that a shot had been fired. Upon officer’s arrival, they encountered a person with a gun and shots were fired. No officers were injured; however, a suspect is deceased at the scene.

Due to Missoula Police Officers being involved in the shooting, the investigation has been turned over to the Montana Department of Justice-Division of Criminal Investigation.”

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