CHEYENNE, Wyoming. — A gunman killed by Yellowstone National Park rangers when he fired a semi-automatic rifle into the entrance of a food court packed with about 200 people had previously told a woman he was planning a mass shooting, park officials said Tuesday.
Park rangers returned fire, killing the man during the attack Thursday morning. Yellowstone officials identified the lone gunman Tuesday as Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, 28, of Milton, Florida.
An injured park ranger has been released from hospital, but his identity has not yet been released.
The shooting prompted authorities to close Canyon Lodge, a complex of hotel rooms, cabins and dining facilities. Some of it remained closed Tuesday. Fussner worked for Xanterra Parks and Resorts, the main concessionaire for such facilities in Yellowstone, park officials said in a statement Tuesday.
The statement contained a number of previously unreleased details about what had happened.
Shortly after midnight Thursday, police rangers learned that Fussner had held a woman against her will at gunpoint in a home in Canyon Village, a lodging area near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in the northern part of the park. The woman reported that Fussner was threatening 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 police rangers, including a special park response team, searched for Fussner while organizing to protect park visitors and employees.
Around 8 a.m. Thursday, police officers encountered Fussner as he approached a service entrance to the Canyon Lodge diner and shot him. Multiple officers fired at Fussner and he died at the scene, the statement said.
There were no other injuries.
“Thanks to the heroic actions of our law enforcement officers, many lives were saved here last Thursday,” Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said in the statement.
The FBI was investigating. National Park Service policy requires law enforcement officers involved in a shooting to be placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, the statement said.
Park officials declined to comment Tuesday on whether any Yellowstone rangers had been laid off.