With the state’s worst rate for suicide, a Montana county is working to turn around its grim statistics
Adam Miller was the type of Montana youth who spent more time outside on a mountain than he ever spent in the house.
“He was always very outdoorsy,” said his sister Emily Miller, 17.
Adam hunted big game and was rarely without a gun.
“He was a very gun-oriented, gun-safe person,” she said. “He grew up shooting.”
But when Adam’s readily available firearms triangulated with mental illness and substance use, he succumbed to suicidal impulses. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot in April 2024.
“He struggled through middle school, through high school, all the way up until he was 21 [when he died],” said Miller, whose family lives in a rural area about 40 minutes from Anaconda. “He had guns completely accessible to him.”
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Adam Miller died by suicide earlier this year. He was an avid outdoorsman, his sister said, but suffered from depression and had easy access to guns.
Credit: courtesy of Emily Miller
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