A gunman killed by Yellowstone national park rangers, as he fired a semiautomatic rifle at the entrance of a dining facility with about 200 people inside, had told a woman he had held at gunpoint earlier that he planned to carry out a mass shooting, park officials said on Tuesday.
Park rangers shot and killed the man during the attack on Thursday morning. Yellowstone officials identified the lone shooter on Tuesday as Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, 28, of Milton, Florida.
A park ranger who was wounded was released from a hospital but not identified.
The shooting led authorities to close off Canyon Lodge, a complex of hotel rooms, cabins and dining facilities, some of which remained closed on Tuesday. Fussner worked for Xanterra Parks and Resorts, the main concessionaire for such facilities in Yellowstone, park officials said in a statement on Tuesday.
The statement provided several previously unreleased details about what happened.
Soon after midnight on Thursday, law enforcement rangers heard that Fussner had held a woman against her will with a gun at a residence in Canyon Village, a lodging area near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in the park’s northern end. The woman reported that Fussner threatened to kill her and others, including carrying out a mass shooting at Fourth of July events outside the park.
Rangers found Fussner’s vehicle but not him. More than 20 law enforcement rangers, including a park special response team, looked for Fussner while organizing to protect park visitors and employees.
At about 8am local time on Thursday, law enforcement rangers encountered Fussner as he approached and fired at a service entrance to the Canyon Lodge dining facility. Several of the rangers shot at Fussner, and he died at the scene, according to the statement.
No other injuries were reported.
“Thanks to the heroic actions of our law enforcement rangers, many lives were saved here last Thursday,” Cam Sholly, the Yellowstone superintendent, said in the statement.
The FBI was investigating. According to National Park Service policy, law enforcement rangers involved in a shooting are placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, the statement said.
Park officials did not immediately comment on Tuesday when asked if any Yellowstone law enforcement rangers had been placed on leave.