CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Hours before a gunman opened fire at an entrance to a Yellowstone National Park employee dining hall, injuring one ranger, authorities had been warned he planned to carry out a mass shooting at the facility, officials said Thursday.
The revelation came as authorities released videos and other new details about the July 4 shooting in which rangers stationed to protect the facility at Canyon Village killed Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, 28, of Milton, Florida, after he opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle.
Authorities had been looking for Fussner for hours before the shooting after a security guard called 911 just after midnight on July 4, saying that Fussner had just held a woman hostage and told her he was going to attack the employee dining hall.
The videos from park rangers’ body-worn cameras show a chaotic scene during and right after the shootout in the world’s first national park, a place millions of people enjoy every year for its wild nature and tranquility. In one video, a ranger is seen firing toward Fussner from inside a vehicle access door in the building.
In another video, a different ranger outside the building approaches the wounded Fussner as he lay still on the ground, dressed in black and with one hand raised upward at the elbow. Fussner remains motionless as the ranger takes his semiautomatic rifle, unclipping it from a strap.
Fussner also was armed with a semiautomatic pistol, according to park officials.
Body-camera footage shows a third ranger running to the scene from in between nearby employee dormitories, yelling to unseen people: “Get back in your dorms!” As the ranger runs, a dozen gunshots are heard.
“Stay down! Stay down!” the ranger shouts to two people crouching behind the front wheel of an SUV. Authorities blurred out the faces of all people in the videos, shielding their identities.
As the ranger approaches the corner of a building, two other rangers stand with rifles pointed and somebody yells: “Suspect’s down, he’s not moving!”
Inside the back entrance where the gunman attacked, photos showed at least 18 bullet holes in the walls. There, the first ranger to trade fire with Fussner was wounded in a “lower extremity,” according to park officials.
Footage shows rangers approaching their wounded colleague sitting in a concrete stairwell landing.
“You all right?” someone asks.
“Yeah, I’m good,” the ranger responds, flashing a thumbs-up.
Medical workers tried to help Fussner but a doctor pronounced him dead, according to park officials.
Besides Fussner, the ranger was the only person physically hurt that day in an area crowded with some 200 park concession workers and visitors. The ranger was treated at a hospital and released within a few days, according to park officials.
Park officials have not identified the rangers involved in the confrontation, including the five at the shooting scene. Of the five, four activated their body-worn video cameras during and soon after the gunfire.
National Park Service policy requires rangers to activate their cameras whenever they begin making contact with somebody “except when faced with an emergency situation requiring immediate action to preserve life or safety,” according to a National Park Service narrative accompanying Thursday’s edited sequence of body camera video, a recording of the initial 911 call, photos and diagrams of the scene.
The shooting led authorities to close off Canyon Lodge, a complex of hotel rooms, cabins and dining facilities, for several days. The facilities are run by Yellowstone’s main tourism concessionaire, Xanterra Parks and Resorts, where Fussner had been working for the summer season.
Park rangers had been looking for Fussner for hours before the shooting. Late on July 3, Fussner held another concessionaire worker against her will with a gun and knife at her residence in Canyon Village.
Early on July 4, the woman reported that Fussner threatened to kill her and others, including carrying out a mass shooting at Independence Day events outside the park, park officials said in a statement five days after the shooting.
On Thursday, the text and voiceover narrative added that Fussner told the woman he planned to carry out mass shootings at the employee dining room as well as July 4 events outside the park. Officials have not said whether Fussner had released the woman or whether she had escaped.
Yellowstone officials didn’t immediately respond to an email Thursday asking why they didn’t previously disclose that Fussner told the woman he planned a mass shooting at the dining room.
The incident remains under investigation by the FBI and authorities have not yet cleared rangers of wrongdoing in the confrontation. Not all materials related to the confrontation have been released.
The FBI did not immediately respond Thursday if anyone besides park rangers witnessed the shooting.
After receiving a 911 call just after midnight on July 4 that Fussner had taken the woman hostage, rangers found Fussner’s vehicle but not him. Inside, they found a handgun.
The subsequent overnight search for Fussner involved more than 20 law enforcement rangers, including a park special response team. Around 8 a.m. the next morning, Fussner approached the dining facility service entrance and opened fire.
Fussner’s Facebook page suggested he was proud about landing a concession job in Yellowstone, a typically seasonal gig that often involves cooking and serving food to the park’s 3 million summer visitors. Such jobs usually go to somewhat younger people in their early 20s; often they are college students visiting from other countries.
Fussner posted a photo of his Xanterra Parks and Resorts badge and photos of him in snowy Yellowstone scenes from mid-May. The posts did not hint at anger or other motivation.
Yellowstone often draws headlines for sometimes deadly mishaps involving wildlife and the park’s famous hot springs. But shootings — despite the park’s millions of visitors and high rate of gun ownership in the region — are rare.
