UPDATE: Yellowstone Shooter Took Woman Hostage, Held Her At Gunpoint: Scanner Recording
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK -- A 28-year-old Florida man killed during a Fourth of July shootout with rangers in Yellowstone National Park has been identified as Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, an employee of Yellowstone contractor Xanterra Travel Collection.
Park County Coroner Cody Gortmaker confirmed the suspect’s identity to Cowboy State Daily on Saturday, adding that the incident remains an active investigation under the direction of the FBI.
Fussner made his Yellowstone Xanterra identification his Facebook profile photo, which confirms his active employment with the park management contractor through Sept. 15, 2024.
The coroner’s office conducted an autopsy Friday, after which Gortmaker confirmed Fussner died of gunshot injuries from at least one park ranger.
Wall Of Silence
Campers in the Canyon Village area of Yellowstone National Park don’t mind talking about the incident that left Fussner dead and a park ranger hurt, but workers in the park remain behind a wall of silence.
That silence grew heavier after the workers attended an early-afternoon employee briefing Friday, three campers told Cowboy State Daily.
In an incident that started overnight Wednesday, a person with a firearm was making threats in the Canyon Village, which is a staffed area with lodging, food and a store in central-east Yellowstone.
Photos of the scene sent to Cowboy State Daily show law enforcement personnel approaching the dormitory that houses Xanterra concessionaire workers, Cowboy State Daily confirmed while in the area Friday.
The situation culminated Thursday morning with an exchange of gunfire between at least one Yellowstone National Park ranger and the suspect. The suspect died, and one ranger was injured and taken to medical care, according to an official park statement dispatched Thursday.
Cowboy State Daily has since received a leaked Xanterra email urging employees to stay silent.
“We ask that you refer any media inquiries to the (National Park Service) and avoid sharing updates on social media,” says the leaked email, which was reportedly dispatched to employees Thursday. The email asks off-duty employees to avoid the Canyon Lodge area.
“We understand that no Xanterra employees or guests were injured,” the email adds.
The person who leaked the email, who does not work in Canyon Village and who spoke on condition of anonymity, contradicted the claim about no Xanterra employees being injured: the source said that the man shot was a Xanterra employee.
Xanterra’s media contact did not respond to a Saturday, early-morning email requesting comment by this story’s noon deadline.
Yellowstone’s media office also did not respond to an update request by publication time.
Maybe 100 Shots
Park visitors Janet Paulsen and Mike Erickson heard about 100 gunshots at around 8 a.m. Thursday morning before their children were awake, they told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.
For a moment, Erickson entertained the notion the popping noises were fireworks. It was the Fourth of July, after all.
Paulsen wondered if they were blank rounds meant to scare away a bear.
But the large number of shots soon dispelled both theories, they said.
The family’s weeklong camp sits in the A-loop of the Canyon campgrounds, which is directly across from Canyon Village: close enough to hear the shots and watch park ranger vehicles rush into the village, but not close enough to watch the shootout.
Erickson and Paulsen weren’t as alarmed as they should have been, the pair said.
They wouldn’t learn until about an hour later that there had been a shooter, and that the scene was by then all clear. Park authorities dispatched a notice to campers’ cellphones, similar to the widespread pings people receive for Amber alerts.
“There wasn’t an alert sent out to warn everybody that there was an active shooter,” said Paulsen, adding with an ironic laugh: “There was only a ‘warning’ that it was over.”
The couple briefed their children that morning on what to do if there was an emergency in the park.
“If we say ‘get in the car,’ don’t ask what’s going on; just do what we say,” Erickson recalled telling the children.
Paulsen said the children understand the need for an emergency plan and are accustomed to lockdown drills at school, but the parents had not yet told them about the active shooter situation as of Friday morning.
These Rooms For Feds
Concessionaire workers bustled in the lodge area just northwest of the village Friday afternoon.
The lodges were short on rooms and staff, an attendant explained patiently to family of tourists standing at the end of a long and coiling check-in line.
Federal agents were occupying several rooms because of a “significant incident yesterday,” the attendant added.
Lodge tenants attended a complimentary buffet that evening.
And Then Someone Called The Cops
Some Xanterra employees on Friday shunned Cowboy State Daily.
Multiple workers shook their heads and walked away when approached.
One said “I can’t conversate,” while walking backwards. A female worker to whom he’d been speaking outside the dormitories physically ran away when approached.
Five minutes later, park rangers came to the dormitory area. One ranger vehicle glided over the nearby hiking trails with its lights blazing. Multiple agents stationed themselves at the lodge just in front of the dormitories. Later, a ranger vehicle coursed through the lodge parking lots, as if seeking someone.
But Before That Things Were A Little More Chill
Prior to the park rangers being called, workers still on the job weren’t as evasive.
“I know you want a comment,” one explained, “But I’m going to do this right now.” And he gestured to his chores.
Another employee spoke to Cowboy State Daily briefly but claimed to know nothing about the incident.
An attendant at the nearby gas station told Cowboy State Daily to read about the incident on the news. A campground check-in worker said the same words exactly, as did a third employee, milling around outside.
The employee who leaked the Xanterra email had said prior that employees were fearful for their jobs.
‘Hush-Hush’
“They’ve been keeping it hush-hush,” Bernard Poirer, a camper from Canada, told Cowboy State Daily.
Like Poirer, several campers said park leaders aren’t telling them much.
Some campers voiced frustration at the silence, others merely shrugged.
“A guy told us somebody pulled a gun,” said Poirer, who was out visiting the park sights when the incident happened. “We don’t know if he’s dead, injured, or anything.”
Plus, there’s no internet access in the region, which makes information even more elusive, added another camper who declined to be identified.
Poirer said he’s not accustomed to seeing guns around anyway, since they’re generally illegal in Canada, with some exceptions.
“It’s OK,” he added. “I guess you get used to it.”
Sorry That Happened
Dan and Irene Hunting, from Phoenix, Arizona, arrived at the campground just after the employee meeting started Friday afternoon.
They stood in line for about an hour and waited for the meeting to end so they could check in, they said. After the meeting, they couldn’t get much out of employees, and noticed that many other campers didn’t know what had happened, Irene said.
“I (told an employee) I’m sorry for the event,” Irene recalled. “He said, ‘Stuff happens and you move on.’”
Cowboy State Daily reporter Wendy Corr contributed to this report.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
