Mount Rainier National Park ranger killed, gunman loose

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A heavily armed gunman shot and killed a ranger in Mount Rainier National Park on Sunday after fleeing a traffic stop, and authorities closed the park in Washington state as a manhunt got underway, officials said.

The ranger, a 34-year-old mother of two young children, was killed after she stopped the gunman's vehicle at a roadblock shortly after another ranger tried to stop the same car about a mile away, park spokesman Kevin Bacher said in a statement.

"The suspect fled and is still at-large on foot," Bacher said. "We are now confirming that park ranger Margaret Anderson has been shot and killed at Mount Rainier National Park."

Authorities closed the park on the west side of the snow-capped Cascade mountain range, which welcomes around 2 million visitors a year, after the shooting and authorities were scouring the area for the gunman, a spokeswoman said.

The shooting came on an unseasonably mild New Year's holiday that saw visitors flock to the park, about 80 miles southeast of Seattle, for popular winter activities including snowboarding and cross-country skiing, she said.

Visitors still in the park were hunkered down as daylight dwindled, including about 85 visitors and 15 park staff who were being held inside a visitor center until it was deemed safe to leave, spokeswoman Lee Taylor said.

"They're safe and secure where they are," she said. "I don't know how long we're going to ask them to stay there. We certainly don't want them driving down the road if there's a gunman who might take a pot shot at them."

Andrew Bunning, a front desk clerk at the 25-room National Park Inn where park visitors often stay, told Reuters that all park visitors including hotel guests were on lockdown.

"We're still on lockdown and everyone is staying safe," Bunning said. "Right now, we're trying to get everyone fed."

A Pierce County sheriff's spokesman told Seattle KIRO-7 television that law enforcement had named Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, as a person of interest who could be involved in the shooting and who may be heavily armed with assault rifles and body armor.

Officials could not give a motive for the shooting, nor could they say why rangers had tried to stop the gunman's car. The FBI was assisting in the manhunt, park officials said.

Park authorities described Anderson, the ranger who was killed, as a committed public servant who was married to another ranger at the 368-square-mile national park, home to two national park lodges.

Full story View this link: E publishing