MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. (AP) — Police officers with dogs trudged across the frigid, snow-covered slopes of Mount Rainier National Park Monday in their hunt for an armed Iraq War veteran suspected in the killing of a park ranger.
Authorities also dispatched teams to reach and evacuate three groups of campers in the backcountry who may be unaware about the search for Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, wanted in the Sunday morning killing of Margaret Anderson.
Law enforcement officials are particularly concerned about a group near where the gunman may travel.
Barnes, who is believed to have survivalist skills, is also a suspect in a 3 a.m. New Year's Day shooting at a house party near Seattle that left four people wounded, two critically.
"The speculation is he threw some stuff in the car and headed up here to hide out," parks spokesman Kevin Bacher said.
Bacher wouldn't guess whether Barnes survived the night in snowy, cold conditions as officers tried to track him down using planes, dogs, trackers in snowshoes and an aircraft with heat-sensing capabilities.
With the proper gear and training, he said, it was possible for someone to survive.
"It can be very deadly if you're unprepared," he said. "Somebody who knows what they're doing out there could certainly survive the night. If he had those skills and had some of that gear, he could be very comfortable.
"I don't think any of us would be sorry if he was not in a condition to fire on our searchers," he said.
Barnes has had a troubled transition to civilian life, with accusations he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and is suicidal.
Barnes was involved in a custody dispute in Tacoma in July, during which his toddler daughter's mother sought a temporary restraining order against him, according to court documents.
The woman told authorities he was suicidal and possibly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after deploying to Iraq in 2007-2008, and had once sent her a text message saying "I want to die."
She alleged that he gets easily irritated, angry and depressed and keeps an arsenal of weapons in his home. She wrote that she feared for the child's safety.
Undated photos provided by police showed a shirtless, tattooed Barnes brandishing two weapons, a large rifle and a smaller firearm with a large clip.
In November 2011, a guardian ad litem recommended parenting and communication classes for both parents and recommending Barnes be allowed to continue supervised visits with the child, two days a week.
That visitation schedule was to continue until he completed a domestic violence evaluation and mental health evaluation and complied with all treatment recommendations.
On New Year's, there was an argument at a house party in Skyway, south of Seattle, and gunfire erupted, police said. Barnes was connected to the shooting, said Sgt. Cindi West, King County Sheriff's spokeswoman.
Two of the three people who fled the scene were located. West said authorities were trying to find Barnes and had been in contact with his family to ask them to convince him to step forward and "tell his side of the story."
At Mount Rainier around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, the gunman had sped past a checkpoint to make sure vehicles have tire chains, which are sometimes necessary in snowy conditions, Bacher said.
One ranger began following him while Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young children who was married to another Mount Rainier park ranger, eventually blocked the road to stop the driver.
Before fleeing, the gunman fired shots at both Anderson and the ranger that trailed him, but only Anderson was hit.
Anderson would have been armed, as she was one of the rangers tasked with law enforcement, Bacher said. Pierce Co. Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said she was shot before she had even got out of the vehicle.
About 150 officers, including from the Washington State Patrol, U.S. Forest Service and FBI, were on the mountain Sunday.
Tactical responders wearing crampons and snowshoes pursued what appeared to be the gunman's tracks in the snow, Troyer said. Those 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.
Authorities recovered his vehicle, which had weapons and body armor inside, Troyer said.
About 125 people slept overnight at the visitors center amid fears that they could be hurt as they manhunt unfolded. In the middle of the night, authorities evacuated them over several hours, Troyer said.
Evacuee Dinh Jackson, a mother who came to the mountain to sled with family and friends, said 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 for the kids," she said.
Michael Wall, an elementary school teacher, spent the morning hiking with his son. They didn't find out about the violence until returning.
Wall said he was impressed by how staff members and visitors kept each other comfortable with food and conversation.
"It was calm, cool, easygoing," Wall said. "I didn't notice any tenseness or terseness."
The park would remain closed Monday.
Park superintendent Randy King said Anderson had served as a park ranger for about four years. King said Anderson's husband also was working as a ranger elsewhere in the park at the time of the shooting.
"It's just a huge tragedy — for the family, the park and the park service," he said.
Adam Norton, a neighbor of Anderson's in the small town of Eatonville, said the ranger's family moved in about a year ago. He said they were not around much, but when they were, Norton would see Anderson outside with her girls.
"They just seemed like the perfect family," he said.
The shooting renewed debate about a federal law that made it legal for people to take loaded weapons into Mount Rainier. The 2010 law made possession of firearms in national parks subject to state gun laws.
Bill Wade, the outgoing chair of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said Congress should be regretting its decision to allow loaded weapons in national parks.
He called Sunday's fatal shooting a tragedy that could have been prevented. He hopes Congress will reconsider the law that took effect in early 2010, but doubts that will happen in today's political climate.
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Associated Press writer Donna Gordon Blankinship contributed from Seattle.
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