To begin, my thoughts & prayers go out to the grieving families in Washington.

In light of the still-unfolding events at Mt. Ranier, I'd like to examine and evaluate the media releases about the situation.

"A plane searching the remote wilderness for Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, on Monday discovered his body lying partially submerged in an icy, snowy mountain creek with snow banks standing several feet high on each side.

"He was wearing T-shirt, a pair of jeans and one tennis shoe. That was it," Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

Barnes did not have any external wounds and appears to have died due to the elements, he said. A medical examiner was at the scene to determine the cause of death. Troyer said two weapons were recovered, but he declined to say where they were located."

It had been reported that the young man had survival training and was hinted that he may have had "survivalist" ties.

If the man had training beyond that from the Army, his mental condition prevented him from utilizing it. As an Army veteran, most of my survival training was very basic and directly linked to specific environments (jungle, desert, etc.).

Can we appeal to our government to provide better care for our veterans?

Is there anything we can do to disassociate what we do from media perceptions?

Again, I am very sad to see a veteran brought so low and that he so badly affected the lives of others.

Nighthiker,

Hello again!

Yes, I am also concerned that we might see a replay of the "Crazed Viet Nam vet" syndrome in the media. There does seem to be a slightly more responsible handling these days.

Oh yes, the exercpt came from a Yahoo news story.

That he was so lightly attired when they found his body brings to mind the tragic fate of James Kim (the 2006 saga in which he and his family were stranded with their vehicle in the southern Oregon mountains). James Kim was found dead having shed much of his attire - apparently a common action in the final stages of hypothermia.

The Rainier NP killer may also have been lightly attired because before he killed the park ranger he was in the process of eluding police after shooting four people at a New Year's Party near Puget Sound. Overnighting on the volcano probably was not his original plan when he left home. But he did have his arsenal in the car (apparently it was gun show and tell at the party).

Little to nothing is publicly known at this point about what kind of person the killer in Mt. Rainier NP was before he joined the Army. It is premature to conclude that his murdering impulses were due to PTSD. The seeds of his path of destruction may have been planted well before his relatively brief military service. Maybe military service was fuel on the fire, we just can't know at this point - and may never know.

I haven't seen that he was in combat situations when he was in the service - I did read that he was in "communications." But the facts are still just trickling out so we don't know what we don't know. Maybe we'll know more this afternoon and next week and next month.

99.99999% of military veterans don't murder people when they get out of the service.

Very tragic for the 34-year old park ranger he murdered and her loved ones. Harrowing for the other people on the mountain - visitors and staff.

Thank goodness he didn't run across some unknowing hikers or backpackers who he may well have slaughtered for their gear. (poor cell phone service so people recreating on the mountain at the time were oblivious to the presence of a killer fugitive)

There's a contingency I don't plan for on wilderness hikes -- running into a fugitive murderer. Could you get to the bear spray in time....

Here's a first-person account (replete with photos) of a group of backpackers and how they were awakened and warned by a police helicopter that a killer fugitive was in their midst:

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7995972

My heart aches for Ranger Anderson and her family and friends. From her picture her face is familiar to me, I didn't know her but I recognize her from day trips to Paradise last summer. Park Rangers are almost always pretty happy people, but Ranger Anderson was clearly living my dream of being in the outdoors every day and helping people, which she did right to the end. My deepest condolences to her husband and two little kids.

This Barnes person is a suspect in an earlier shooting south of Seattle of 4 people at a house in Skyway. There's speculation about what he was doing heavily armed on the one-way road to Paradise, a destination for visitors, tourists, backcountry campers and skiers and snow cave builders, with a lodge with about 100-200 people in it most weekends. That speculation considers that he may have been on his way up to Paradise to kill as many people as he could. Regardless of where Barnes thought he was going or what he might do, Ranger Anderson's road block stopped him from doing it. Its not hyperbole to consider that her actions and presence stopped a far greater tragedy.

I don't know and don't care if Barnes was a 'survivalist', except if any group he may have been a member of exists, I'd like to know they don't share his particular anger and violence. There are certainly more than a few survivalist groups in the backwoods out here in the PNW, but mostly these guys are too far gone, they tend to be loners or loosely associated with a few other f-ups.

So he had his fire fight with Park Rangers, and escaped with his life - ill equipped - through waist-high snow. If he had survival gear or survival training from the military, he would have found his situation quite dire. You don't last long wading through Cascade concrete in tennis shoes and t shirt. It sounds like he got about a mile along Paradise Creek, probably by escaping the snow and wading the freezing creek - or maybe he just slipped and fell in (getting out with a 40 inch snow bank is pretty tough, especially in tennis shoes). Maybe his reptilian brain was sending him the only place he had a chance, downstream, downhill, but its a long way to get below the snow line from Barn Flat's where the shoot out occurred, and the creek is certainly terribly cold, and beyond difficult to navigate on foot. He may also have been heading up stream towards Paradise lodge, but that's an even harder path. Sounds like he died face down in that creek, hypothermia. Either way, it doesn't matter to me - the mountain got him in the end.

My thoughts exactly. No plan -- not much of a survivalist. Media ratings hype.

We may want to step back and realize that while the departed was a killer/murderer, he may also have been a deranged victim with mental issues who just went berserk. PTSD or otherwise, what he did was irrational by any measure. I/we really know nothing of what made this kid tick. Maybe LE has a better idea.

Read Dagny's link. Coffee cup communications Low tech works, always have a plan B. I've only seen "Cruisin Coffee" in WA.

OT: 30 Statistics That Show That The Middle Class Is Dying Right In Front Of Our Eyes As We Enter 2012 -- Food for thought.

Wow, just wow. Thanks for the NW Hikers link Dagny.

I know in a statistical sense such an event in the backcountry is very very rare. But for right now at least, it makes me think about all the time I've spent solo in the hills without my pistol. Ugghh.

Are you mourning for this murderer because he was a veteran? I say good riddance, one less murderer we have to worry about. Being a veteran does no justify/explain his actions, nor do his actions make other veterans look bad. Veteran status has nothing to do with it.

Good point. So far, I haven't seen anything said mentioning veterans in regards to this event (except in this ETS thread). Our Denver Post article (probably cloned from some national news organization) included in the last paragraph that "loaded guns have been allowed in national parks since 2010", as if that has anything to do with this. So you're right - morons will draw idiotic conclusions to suit their agendas. Although I can't think of any groups that have an anti-veteran agenda (except for that stupid "church" that protests at military funerals).

I can assure you that as an NPS retiree, this incident really hit home. I am heartsick. I do think it is way too soon to stereotype about "survivalist" and "PTSD" until more is known. If necessary, I certainly hope more meaningful care will be rendered to veterans.

This lady is not the first ranger to die in the line of duty, nor will she be the last. It isn't always fun and games out there in the pines and crags.

Some of the reporting on this incident was lacking in details. Maybe they will be explained later.

It is possible that the veteran involved was not simply suffering from PTSD, but that he actually had TBI (traumatic brain injury). That is a serious condition, and it causes a lot of problems. Since some of our veterans have been exposed to blast injuries, this is something that we are going to have to deal with better in the future. If indeed the veteran was suffering from TBI, it might help to understand why he was seeking refuge away from other people, and why he was not thinking rationally at the time.

Apparently the Park Ranger had set up a roadblock - for the express purpose of protecting people. She just wanted to make sure that park visitors had tire chains. That's all.

unfortunately ... what happened was the worst combination of curcumstances. A veteran who was stressed and not thinking clearly encountered a roadblock set up by someone who represented "authority". The result was tragic.

This is one possible interpretation of what happened ... it may or may not be correct. But the end result was very sad.

My prayers for the NPS ranger's family and co-workers.

Pete2

Apparently the assailant had run a check point established to require travelers going further to put on chains. The ranger was establishing a roadblock to stop him from proceeding. She was fired upon immediately.

I agree completely with you. Let's sort out the situation and see what the facts are.

It should be standard protocol to never allow a single ranger to put up a roadblock when a car has already started evading by not stopping at a checkpoint. That tells me the person could be very dangerous. They should have allowed him to pass by Anderson and attempted to stop the guy with more than one person and ready for trouble.

I am glad he is dead and we do not have to waste resources on this murderer.

There were two rangers setting up the checkpoint; the other was fired upon but was not hit.

While this is a terrible tragedy, I'm thankful it wasn't far worse. Last night I feared a true nightmare scenario where a heavily armed, possibly well trained and equipped murderer would lead his trackers on a very deadly chase. The alleged perp dying of hypothermia may well have saved many more lives.

I feel terrible for the family of the fallen park ranger. What an awful thing for them to go through.

You can write it any way you want NH, same as the press, but your synopsis leaves out some necessary detail that was reasonable for the press to report as speculation and is now being confirmed as true. The rest of us can speculate all we want, and color our accounts and mental pictures however we want. I think some want to emphasize Barnes' military background, others want to bury it. Personally I think its most relevant for the impact that his time in the military had on his mental state, and the full story on that has yet to be told (although there are some more details in today's local press accounts, ex. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017153774_skyway04m.html). I think its clear that all the elements you tend to minimize are shown to be substantially true at this point:

- mentally unstable (in his wife's restraining order there are allegations of domestic violence and suicide attempt(s) - yes, allegations, but owing to privacy things like diagnosis or treatment seldom get reported in the first rush to document incidents such as this);
- military veteran (granted, no evidence of service in a combat position, but it was confirmed he did duty in a Stryker brigade out of Joint Base Lewis McChord. Besides, I don't recall "combat" being emphasized in any coverage, its mostly been 'veteran who served in the war in Iraq', and locally some emphasis on his serving in a JBLM Stryker brigade, which many in this area can relate to and is generally a source of pride hereabouts);
- problems with authorities (lets just look at the court documents: DUI, restraining order, suspect in a New Year's shooting of 4 in Skyway, WA, for which the cops were trying to negotiate and get him to surrender himself. Sure, maybe these are 'negative encounters with authorities': would you term the cold blooded killing of Ranger Anderson a problem or an encounter with authorities?);
- and large stash of weapons (on or near his person at his death he had a handgun, knife, an assault rifle, and ammo - pretty heavy armor considering he had crashed through over 1 mile of chest deep snow with them. Immediately available pics of Barnes show him posing with two gnarly semi/automatic weapons with very large magazines.)

I would add to this synopsis the only speculation that I find immediately credible, and that is what was Barnes doing in Mt Rainier NP that day. He was on the run from the shooting of 4 people in Skyway. He was heavily armed as it turns out. He was depressed by his broken family relationship, his life so far. The road to Paradise is a dead end, ending at a grand view point with hundreds of unarmed and at best lightly armed tourists, visitors, skiers and snowshoers - and at this time of year, a light contingent of armed park rangers. If Barnes had tire chains, and put them on, he wouldn't have had to blow past the chain up area. He would have driven to Paradise, heavily armed, with a target rich environment around him. Barnes might have been heading up there to stand in the middle of the parking lot and blow his own brains out. He may have intended to walk into the cold snowy white, remove his insulating layers, and find his peace there. Or Barnes might have created a bloodbath at Paradise. He had the weapons, he had the anger, he may have felt that he had nothing else to lose. So he raced his car past the chain up area, triggering Ranger Anderson and another Ranger to blockade the road to Paradise further ahead. Based on everything known about Barnes so far, I see nothing to dissuade me from thinking that Ranger Anderson and the other Ranger may have prevented a far greater loss of life by establishing their blockade when and where they did.

I don't know and I doubt we'll ever know what was happening in his mind. However, what is clear to me is that by forcing the situation, Barnes plan (whatever it was) was disrupted. It may not have been their intention, but by blocking the road, Ranger Anderson and her partner forced Barnes to proceed on foot into the snow without proper gear -- not a good Plan B. Really though, to have a Plan B you need to have a Plan A and what hasn't been established is whether he had any plan at all.

It's sad Ranger Anderson had to die in the process, but this ended about as cleanly as one could expect given prior events and what we presume to be his mindset.

I have a feeling he was headed to Paradise to do who knows what, but probably not good. Her actions may have saved a lot of lives, as it was a nice day with many people up there. I can’t remember where I read it but one report did state there wasn’t much in the way of cold weather gear in his car.

A troubled soul, to say the least.

The coverage wasn't the best, but the facts that we did know that turned out correct were sufficient cause for worry. We did know he was 1) unstable, 2) well armed, and 3) willing to kill someone. The possibility that he may possibly have survival and/or evasion training was worrisome. Heck, if a knowledgeable member of ETS was intent on evading capture I'd say their odds would be much better than your average guy off the street.