MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. (AP) — Authorities evacuated about 125 people overnight from the visitors center at Mount Rainier National Park, where police have been searching the snowy terrain for an armed gunman suspected of killing a park ranger.
About 150 officers converged on the mountain park after ranger Margaret Anderson was shot to death Sunday morning, and searchers used an aircraft with heat-sensing capabilities to hunt from the skies.
Authorities believe the gunman was still in the woods, with weapons.
Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said that Benjamin Colton Barnes, a 24-year-old believed to have survivalist skills, was a "strong person of interest" in the slaying.
"We do have a very hot and dangerous situation," Troyer said.
Teams were assessing new tactical plans that they planned to put into place at daylight, he said.
Safety concerns prompted authorities to keep the tourists quarantined at a visitors center as the manhunt unfolded. Early Monday morning, officers escorted them out of the park in groups of vehicles over several hours...................