The "manhunt on the mountain" continued Monday for the man believed to have shot and killed a Mount Rainier National Park ranger on Sunday during a traffic stop inside the vast Washington state wilderness park.
[*Monday night update: Police find body of shooting suspect.]
Margaret Anderson was married with two young children and Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, a veteran of the Iraq war known to possess survivalist skills, is "a strong person of interest" in the case. Barnes, a suspect in an earlier shooting that injured four people in Seattle, is said to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and prone to anger spells.
Police believe Barnes may have fled into the national park to hide out in the aftermath of the Seattle shooting.
Park officials evacuated 125 visitors and the manhunt involves about 200 personnel, searching from the ground and air.
Webcams installed throughout the park reveal the vastness of wilderness, and a mostly snowy landscape, with dark and threatening skies. It's eerie to look at the webcams, knowing that a sick killer is on the loose.
Anderson, certainly, could not have known what kind of person she was contending with after the gunman sped past a checkpoint used to make sure visitors carried tire chains for the snow.
After a pursuit she was able to use her vehicle to block the road in front of the gunman—the road that leads to Paradise—and according to the Associated Press, Anderson was fatally shot before she stepped out of her truck.
She had worked at the park for four years. She and her family lived in the nearby small community of Eatonville. Above is an AP video news report about the incident. Below is an image showing a view of Mt. Rainier National Park from its "Mountain" webcam.
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