Montana FCU Employee in Critical Condition After Being Run Over Outside of Branch

A 48-year-old man is in jail for allegedly using his pickup truck to run over a Montana Federal Credit Union employee who underwent surgery and was in critical condition on Thursday afternoon, according to the Cascade County Attorney’s office in Great Falls.

County prosecutors charged Jeremiah Drew Gideon with attempted deliberate homicide and assault on a peace officer, court documents showed.

According to police, the incident occurred on Wednesday morning when Justin Johnson was sitting in his car at the credit union’s drive-up ATM at Montana Federal Credit Union’s branch on 901 8th Ave., in Great Falls. Driving a Chevy pickup truck, Gideon pulled up to the passenger’s side of Johnson’s Chevy Lumina. Gideon began telling Johnson that the government was tracking money and that he should not be getting any money out. Johnson was unable to discern exactly what Gideon was going on about and told Gideon to leave, court documents stated.

A male employee of Montana FCU, later identified in court documents as T.M., walked out of the branch and asked Gideon to leave.

T.M. was standing in the space between Gideon’s and Johnson’s vehicles when Gideon slowly backed his pickup truck in what appeared to be an attempt to square up his vehicle to T.M. Gideon then accelerated toward T.M., who got away by moving in front of Johnson’s vehicle before it was struck by Gideon’s pickup truck, officials said.

Gideon continued to pursue T.M. while he moved south toward 8th Ave S. and across the boulevard where Gideon allegedly ran over the credit union employee, struck a parked Mercury Cougar and fled the scene.

At 10:50 a.m., Great Falls medics were dispatched and saw T.M. lying on the street where he appeared to be severely injured, according to court documents. He was transported to Benefis Hospital.

Cascade County Attorney Joshua A. Racki said T.M. underwent surgery and was listed in critical condition as of Thursday afternoon.

When Gideon was apprehended by Great Falls police, he admitted that he had run over someone and that he had “killed a dude.”

Gideon was identified by credit union employees by name as he had made a transaction at the branch just before the incident.

While being interviewed by Detectives Travis Burrow and Jack Tri at the Cascade County Detention Center, Gideon stood up, aggressively yelled racial slurs at Detective Tri and kicked him in the groin, according to court documents. Before he kicked Detective Tri, Gideon also threatened to headbutt and roll over him too.

Cascade County Attorney Racki, who attended Gideon’s court hearing on Thursday, said when the judge asked for his plea, “Gideon kept saying it was a dirty banker, it was a dirty banker, and it wasn’t a peace officer.”

Racki said Gideon was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and assessment and to be held in custody at the Cascade County Detention Center on a $500,000 bond.

Montana FCU did not respond to an email and phone call request for comment.

READ MORE: State of Montana vs. Jeremiah Drew Gideon-Affidavit