At around 8 a.m. on the Fourth of July a Florida man armed with a semi-automatic rifle approached law enforcement rangers posted near a dining facility at Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone National Park and began firing toward the service entrance.
The rangers returned fire, killing 28-year-old Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner of Milton, Florida, the Park Service said in a press release five days after the incident. An unidentified park ranger who was wounded in “a lower extremity” during the shootout was treated at an area hospital and released. Fussner died at the scene.
At the time of the incident, the building was occupied by about 200 people. Consistent with Department of the Interior and NPS policies, the body camera footage of the incident will be released within 30 days.
“Thanks to the heroic actions of our law enforcement rangers, many lives were saved here last Thursday,” said Superintendent Cam Sholly in a statement. “These rangers immediately confronted this shooter and took decisive action to ensure he was no longer a threat to public safety.”
