US police search for armed gunman
Source: Agencies |
January 3, 2012, Tuesday
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POLICE tactical teams searched Mount Rainier National Park's snowy terrain in Washington state in the US through the night for an armed gunman suspected in the shooting death of a park ranger, as other officers used the cover of darkness to evacuate dozens of tourists who had been kept for their safety at a visitors center.
About 150 officers converged on the mountain park after ranger Margaret Anderson was shot to death on Sunday morning, and searchers used an aircraft with heat-sensing capabilities to hunt from the skies.
Authorities believe the gunman is still in the woods, with weapons.
Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said that Benjamin Colton Barnes, a 24-year-old believed to have survivalist skills, was a "strong person of interest" in the slaying.
"We do have a very hot and dangerous situation," Troyer said.
Safety concerns prompted authorities to keep about 125 tourists quarantined at a visitors center as the manhunt unfolded.
But early yesterday morning, officers began escorting them in their cars out of the park. Troyer said it was determined to be "better to do it (evacuate) under the cover of darkness than daylight."
Evacuee Dinh Jackson, a mother from Olympia, Washington, who came to the mountain to sled with family and friends, said that officials ordered people to hurry into the lodge after the shooting.
Jackson said officials had everyone get on their knees and place hands behind their heads as they went through the building, looking at faces to make sure the gunman was not among them.
"That was scary...," she said.
A parks spokesman said Barnes was an Iraq war veteran, and the mother of his child had alleged he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his deployments.
Barnes was involved in a custody dispute in Tacoma in July 2011, during which the toddler's mother sought a temporary restraining order against him, according to court documents. In an affidavit, the woman wrote that Barnes was suicidal and possibly suffered from PTSD after deploying to Iraq in 2007-2008. She said he gets easily irritated, angry and depressed and keeps weapons in his home.
Barnes was also a suspect in an early Sunday morning shooting that injured four people at a house party south of Seattle, police said.
At Mount Rainier on Sunday morning the gunman was alleged to have sped past a checkpoint to make sure vehicles have tire chains, the parks spokesman said. Before fleeing, the gunman fired shots at both Anderson and the ranger that trailed him, but only Anderson was hit.
About 150 officers converged on the mountain park after ranger Margaret Anderson was shot to death on Sunday morning, and searchers used an aircraft with heat-sensing capabilities to hunt from the skies.
Authorities believe the gunman is still in the woods, with weapons.
Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said that Benjamin Colton Barnes, a 24-year-old believed to have survivalist skills, was a "strong person of interest" in the slaying.
"We do have a very hot and dangerous situation," Troyer said.
Safety concerns prompted authorities to keep about 125 tourists quarantined at a visitors center as the manhunt unfolded.
But early yesterday morning, officers began escorting them in their cars out of the park. Troyer said it was determined to be "better to do it (evacuate) under the cover of darkness than daylight."
Evacuee Dinh Jackson, a mother from Olympia, Washington, who came to the mountain to sled with family and friends, said that officials ordered people to hurry into the lodge after the shooting.
Jackson said officials had everyone get on their knees and place hands behind their heads as they went through the building, looking at faces to make sure the gunman was not among them.
"That was scary...," she said.
A parks spokesman said Barnes was an Iraq war veteran, and the mother of his child had alleged he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his deployments.
Barnes was involved in a custody dispute in Tacoma in July 2011, during which the toddler's mother sought a temporary restraining order against him, according to court documents. In an affidavit, the woman wrote that Barnes was suicidal and possibly suffered from PTSD after deploying to Iraq in 2007-2008. She said he gets easily irritated, angry and depressed and keeps weapons in his home.
Barnes was also a suspect in an early Sunday morning shooting that injured four people at a house party south of Seattle, police said.
At Mount Rainier on Sunday morning the gunman was alleged to have sped past a checkpoint to make sure vehicles have tire chains, the parks spokesman said. Before fleeing, the gunman fired shots at both Anderson and the ranger that trailed him, but only Anderson was hit.
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