[3] In the early hours of the morning, around 2:00 a.m., on Saturday, June 14, 2003, 44-year-old George Harold Davis drank alone at the Silver Dollar Saloon bar, on Main Street in Ennis, Madison County, Montana.

After buying multiple alcoholic beverages and getting heavily intoxicated, Davis got more and more frustrated and was unable to pay for the drinks.

After the shooting, Davis fled the scene in his car and drove for nearly two-hundred miles toward Ravalli County, Montana.

[4][5] At around 8:00 a.m. Ravalli County Sheriff Deputy Bernie Allestad spotted Davis speeding on U.S. Highway 93.

Davis spun his vehicle around, exited his car, crouched behind his rear bumper and opened fire on Hildenstab with his .45 semi-automatic pistol.

Hildenstab's patrol vehicle became disabled and began releasing smoke, as it had been badly shot up by Davis during the shootout.

George Harold Davis (born June 20, 1958)[10] was identified as the man responsible for the shooting rampage in Ennis.

[13] Between 1994 and 1997, Davis received four separate restraining orders in Olympia, Washington, including one for harassing a staff member of The Olympian.

Davis also sent them a newsletter from the neo-Nazi group, National Alliance, which said, "We must halt the flow of Third World immigrants across our borders, and we must take whatever other steps are necessary to reclaim our cities from the hordes of non-Whites who have invaded them during the past 50 years."

A woman from the Washington area with whom Davis had tried to start a relationship claimed to have received neo-Nazi literature from him at her work and home address.

Davis said he abruptly stopped taking the antidepressant drug Paxil in the days leading up to the shooting.

His defense attorney Ed Sheehy Jr. argued that heavy drinking and withdrawals from the drug led to the initial shooting.

Madison County Attorney Bob Zenker described Davis as evil, a racist, and a cop hater.

Davis had no clear answer to why he carried out the rampage and claimed that he could not recall any of his actions on that specific day.

[13] The chase and shootout with Davis was recorded by dashboard cameras installed within Conway and Hildenstab's patrol vehicles.