By MIKE BAKER Associated Press & KOMO StaffPublished: Jan 1, 2012 at 12:23 PM PST Last Updated: Jan 2, 2012 at 12:00 AM PST


MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. - Investigators have a "strong person of interest" in the fatal shooting of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger Sunday. Detectives are looking for 24-year-old Benjamin Colton Barnes, according to a flyer being passed around by law enforcement at the scene.

Investigators have also recovered a car filled with weapons and body armor, along with survivalist gear, said Det. Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department. But Troyer would not say for sure yet that car belongs to Barnes.

Massive manhunt after ranger slain at Rainier
Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, a mother of two who was married to another ranger at the park, was shot about 10:30 a.m. Sunday after setting up a roadblock to stop a car that was fleeing another officer.

By Mike Carter, Craig Welch, Steve Miletich and Jack Broom
Seattle Times staff reporters
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AP
In this undated photo provided by the Pierce County Sheriff's Dept., Benjamin Colton Barnes, is shown. Officials said Barnes is a person of interest in the fatal shooting of a park ranger at Mount Rainier National Park, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012 in Washington State.
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I'm hoping no other innocent people get killed, I don't care if he is an "Iraqi... (January 1, 2012, by Knoman) Read more
This guy is as good as dead. Not too smart to shoot people at a party, nor a federal of... (January 1, 2012, by paul000) Read more
From all the photos circulating of this punk and his guns he must really think he is so... (January 1, 2012, by Snowdogs reincarnation) Read more
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A man who was being sought in the shooting of four people at a New Year's party in South King County early Sunday is suspected in the fatal shooting of a park ranger in Mount Rainier National Park later in the morning.

Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, a mother of two who was married to another ranger at the park, was shot about 10:30 a.m. after setting up a roadblock to stop a car that was fleeing another officer.

She was shot when the driver apparently stepped out of the vehicle with a shotgun and opened fire. It took authorities nearly 90 minutes to get to her because the assailant continued to fire an assault rifle at Pierce County SWAT team officers as they tried to assist the injured ranger, officials said.

Anderson was the first park ranger shot and killed in the line of duty at Mount Rainier.

Nearly eight hours earlier, King County sheriff's deputies responded to shots fired at a party in Skyway, where an early-morning session of "show and tell" with guns among several armed partygoers devolved into a shootout, according to detectives.

Four people were shot, and three people fled the scene. One of them was identified as Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24.

Kevin Bacher, a spokesman for Mount Rainier National Park, said the vehicle recovered at the scene of Anderson's shooting was registered to Barnes. Authorities say they found weapons, body armor and survivalist gear in the vehicle.

Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said they know the suspect is carrying an assault rifle because shell casings were found at the scene, but no assault rifle was found in the car. Troyer displayed photos of Barnes, including one showing him holding two assault-style rifles.

"He had come up here fully armed with equipment to hide out," Troyer said.

The manhunt Sunday resulted in the shutdown of the park, and 125 visitors and 17 staff members were held in lockdown at the park's Jackson Visitor Center.

"It's really not safe right now," park spokeswoman Lee Taylor said. "We've got a guy on the loose with a gun, and he's obviously willing to use it."

Authorities planned to conduct early-morning evacuations Monday of those stranded inside the center, Troyer said. Visitors would be able to leave in their own vehicles, with law-enforcement escorts.

Crews had initially planned to keep everyone quarantined in a basement with guards. All remaining visitors were expected to be off the mountain by 4 a.m., Troyer said.

"They're thinking now that it might be better to do it under the cover of darkness than daylight," Troyer said late Sunday.

The park would remain closed Monday, officials announced.

Searchers flew over the park Sunday night in a plane with infrared equipment that picks up signs of body heat.

Meanwhile, a tactical team was trying to track the assailant through nearly 2 feet of fresh snow as temperatures fell. More than 100 law-enforcement officers from the National Park Service, FBI, Pierce County and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife were on the scene.

"We believe we have a good track on him," Troyer said. "But he's way out ahead of us."

The gunman's tracks went into creeks and other waterways, making it more difficult for crews to follow. "He's intentionally trying to get out of the snow," Troyer said.

FBI spokeswoman Ayn Sandalo-Dietrich said the bureau has dedicated "considerable resources" to the shooting, which involves the death of a federal officer in a national park, meaning any prosecution will likely wind up in federal court.

"We're talking about a subject that has an advantage," State Patrol spokesman Guy Gill said. "He's barricaded down in the woods, armed. It puts officers at a disadvantage. It requires a lot of planning."

Barnes is the father of a 1-year-old daughter, and custody documents filed in Pierce County Superior Court by the child's mother describe him as an Iraq war veteran plagued by anger and depression who was hospitalized after threatening suicide last January.

In July, the mother, Nicole Santos, petitioned the court for an amended parenting plan and restraining order, citing threats of violence by Barnes.

"I just feel there is so much instability," Santos wrote in a July 19 petition seeking to restrict Barnes' access to the child.

"I think it is important for the court to know that Benjamin was also deployed to Iraq in 2007-2008 and has possible PTSD issues," she wrote, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder. "He gets easily irritated, angry, depressed and frustrated.

"Benjamin also has a lot of weapons in his home, such as, firearms and knives," Santos wrote. "I am fearful of what Benjamin is capable of with the small arsenal he has in his home and his recent threats of suicide."

Attempts to contact Barnes' family were unsuccessful. A man who answered the phone at a number associated with his parents in California said he had no comment and hung up.

The incident at Mount Rainier started about 10:15 a.m., Taylor said, when park rangers attempted to pull over a vehicle on the road just above Longmire after it blew past a tire-chain checkpoint. Pursuing officers radioed ahead for backup.

In response, Anderson drove to an area known as Barn Flats, about a mile or so south of Paradise, and used her cruiser to block the road.

When the fleeing car approached, according to Taylor, the driver stopped.

"He just jumped out and shot her," Taylor said.

PhunkyMunky wrote:I'm not thinking in terms of false flag. The incident actually happened, and the shooting did take place in Skyway earlier, I saw Police and Sheriffs Deputies all over the place New Years Eve. But what they ARE doing is the easiest thing to do, take a crime or tragedy and push bits of info into the story. It's more believable that way, is it not? If I told you a story about Peter the Rabbit, but altered the story JUST ENOUGH to embed false information to you, you might not catch it. Maybe, by altering the story just so, I could put a political spin on it and sway your opinion of how government should be a Socialist or Communist government.

If one adds a little bit at a time, things are more believable. Lets look at a big one. Bin Laden took credit for 9/11. President Bush shortly after claimed Saddam had a hand in that attack (he did not) and that he also had nukes (he did not), which led us in to war in Iraq in 2003. Because 9/11 was such a huge tragedy, people believed that this grand Middle East Conspiracy was true, when only a handful of people planned and carried out the attack. Why was the attack done? I can only guess, but Bin Laden stated it was our "aggression's" in the Middle East that pushed him to do that. At least that is the story we got, I don't speak Arabic so I couldn't possible tell you what the gibber jabber Bin Laden taped himself saying actually was. Maybe he wanted a Cheese Burger.