Montana Man Faces Charges for Abortion Doctor Plot, Helena Clinic Shooting

Charles Felix Jones, 20, of Anaconda stood before Missoula District Court Judge Jason Marks on March 16 facing three felonies and one misdemeanor after admitting to detectives he planned to shoot and kill a Missoula abortion provider and stopped just short of pulling the trigger.

Jones is being held on $5 million bail. Charging documents filed by Missoula County Attorneys Andrew Jenks and Mac Bloom describe a March 8 sequence that began at a protest and ended with Jones armed inside a doctor's backyard at night.

According to the charging documents, Jones arrived in Missoula on March 8 to participate in a pro-life protest outside Blue Mountain Clinic. By around 6 p.m., he told detectives he had identified the home address of a prominent Missoula abortion doctor through internet research. He visited the house multiple times that evening and, while the doctor and his wife ate dinner, watched from a neighbor's yard. At around 8 p.m., Jones said he opened the back gate into the couple's backyard carrying a .327 six-shot revolver. Charging documents allege he later threw the gun into the back window of the home.

Jones also admitted to shooting the front door of a Helena abortion clinic in 2023, a case in which no suspect had previously been identified. The Montana Free Press noted that the Helena shooting was the first reported violent attack on an abortion clinic in Montana in recent years.

The admissions connect Jones to conduct spanning at least three years. He told Missoula police he had been passionate about anti-abortion causes for "many years" and that he considered the targeted doctor a legitimate mark because of the abortions he provided. Prosecutors allege Jones praised men known for killing abortion doctors and bombing clinics in the 1990s. Jones also told detectives he planned to bomb a building in Whitefish in July 2024 but did not follow through; investigators have not confirmed whether the target was a reproductive health facility. He additionally said he had considered targeting the leadership of Planned Parenthood of Montana.

Jenks and Bloom wrote in the charging documents: "By his own admission, defendant has planned and taken concrete steps to implement multiple homicidal/terroristic acts." They also quoted Jones's view of organized anti-abortion activism, writing that the "Defendant felt the modern pro-life movement was 'just pathetic and was not accomplishing anything.'"

Jones, a former resident of Manhattan, Montana, who moved to Anaconda approximately eight months ago, told detectives he was inspired by Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City in December 2024 and faces federal terrorism charges. Jones said that while he disagreed with Mangione politically, he supported the idea of making people more open to "violence."

Planned Parenthood of Montana CEO and president Martha Fuller said in a statement that the organization is working with law enforcement on a "security-related investigation" and that its four Montana clinics remain open to patients.