MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. – Mount Rainier National Park remained closed Tuesday following the discovery of the body of the suspected gunman in the fatal shooting of a park ranger that has devastated the close-knit group of park workers.
The park, which sees more than 1.5 million visitors annually, has been off-limits since Margaret Anderson was killed Sunday morning. The body of the man suspected of killing her was found Monday morning by a plane searching the rugged, snowy area.
“We have been through a horrific experience,” said park superintendent Randy King. “We’re going to need a little time to regroup.”
Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, was lying partially submerged in a frigid 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,” said Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer.
Barnes, an Iraq War veteran, did not have any external wounds and appears to have died from the elements, Troyer said. It wasn’t clear whether Barnes had shed clothes before dying, as some hypothermia victims do.
Troyer said Barnes did not have sufficient outdoor gear, and that two weapons were recovered along with his body.
According to police and court
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