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.