Video released by Yellowstone National Park shows the frantic minutes of a shootout between park rangers and a gunman who was killed July 4 as he stormed an employee dining room with a semi-automatic rifle.
The clips from officers’ body-worn cameras show a ranger firing from inside a garage at Samson Fussner, a ranger removing the semi-automatic rifle from Fussner as he lay unresponsive near the loading dock, and a ranger rushing to a colleague, wounded in the leg, who declares “Yeah, I’m all right.”
In a community briefing video statement that lasts 20 minutes, park officials explain how five rangers engaged and killed Fussner at the threshold of the employee dining room early July 4. The room is below the Canyon Eatery that caters to visitors and was open at the time. The park service previously said roughly 200 people were inside.
Fussner, an employee of the park concessionaire Xanterra Travel Collection, had earlier threatened to shoot up the dining hall, according to a recording of a 911 call made to police and released by Yellowstone. He was also accused of showing up at another employee’s residence armed with a pistol and knife.
After searching for him during the night, rangers found Fussner’s car and a pistol and were patrolling and guarding the area between employee dorms and the Canyon Village visitor amenities.
“Many bullets penetrated consecutive walls of the building when Fussner fired at Officer number one.”
National Park Service statement
“At 8:05 a.m. Fussner emerged from the woods with a semi-automatic rifle and encountered an NPS law enforcement officer near the Canyon Lodge,” the park said in its briefing. He shot first at “Officer Three” so named because that ranger was the third to fire at Fussner. That set off the gunfight that killed Fussner.
Shouting, shots, a fire alarm
Some of the rangers had not turned on their body-worn cameras, and some of what was recorded does not include audio. But the scene that emerges from the video that was captured is one of frantic minutes laced with heavy breathing, shouting, shots, a fire alarm, a dead man and a wounded ranger.
The Park Service briefing provided the following account.
As Fussner emerged from the woods, he advanced toward the back of the two-story visitor eatery and employee dining room, saw “Officer Three,” whose body-worn video camera was not on, and shot at him.
He then saw “Officer One” through an open door on the loading dock and unleashed a barrage.
“Many bullets penetrated consecutive walls of the building when Fussner fired at Officer number one,” the park stated. One bullet from Fussner hit Officer One in the lower part of one of his legs.
Officer One returned fire. Officer Two could not immediately engage Fussner because of his position in a hall, the park said.
But he turned on his body-worn video camera and moved from the hall to where he could see through a garage bay door adjacent to the loading dock.
Fussner moved past the garage door and Officer Two shot at him.
“He’s on the ground!” Officer Two yells after shooting. He also shouts, apparently to a civilian, to get back upstairs in the building.
“You, move! Go! Go!” he yells.
The third officer, the one Fussner shot at first, then engaged the gunman.
“Officer number three rounds the corner of the building and fires at Fussner,” the park states in the briefing. “Fussner falls to the ground.”
Officer Two, who had been near the ranger who was wounded, called for medical help.
“I need one EMS!” he shouts to his radio. “[Inaudible] been hit!”
Video footage also shows an armed ranger running from the employee dorm area behind the Canyon Eatery and training his rifle toward Fussner. Rangers then approach the unresponsive gunman and take his firearm away.
Footage shows a ranger rushing through the Eatery building and up stairs to find the wounded ranger who is being attended to by others.
“Yeah, I’m all right,” the wounded ranger says in response to questions about his condition. He was later treated at an undisclosed hospital.
Rangers from Grand Teton National Park assisted in the confrontation. The incident remains under investigation.
Amazing story, thanks Agnus! Terrific bravery and training displayed by the NPS officers. A tactical success that only comes from through training and lots of selfless courage. All the Rangers and public safety officers deserve our praise and thanks.
Being approached by anyone with an assault weapon scares me, whether they are mentally unstable or not. From a person who owns guns, no one except a law enforcement officer ever needs an AR-type assault weapon??? Hubris!
This is further proof, that it was the lunatic, and not the firearms that he had in the woods or his car. Kudos to the Rangers who were prepared for this lunatic before said lunatic could get in the cafeteria. He could have done some real damage if he had got in there. This is the problem that I have with gun control, because on that day and at that time, there were 100 million American firearms owners with over 400 million firearms, who never did anything unwise, unsafe, irresponsible, with their firearms, all it takes is one lunatic, who was probably accepting psychiatric help from somebody, who could have known this perp was a lunatic, and didn’t come forward to officers who work at Yellowstone. If they had advanced knowledge of his mental condition, and especially if they had any knowledge, it would have taken one well placed shot to bring this all to an end, before it got out of hand when he broke the woodline. Well done Park Rangers, thank you for your service and sacrifices.
Every day at least one of those 100 million firearms owners of 400 million firearms does something just as stupid and just as dangerous.
Wow — such a chaotic and scary situation. Many thanks to the parks officers who quickly responded and did an amazing job . I was just at Yellowstone and it was packed with tourist so this could have been a really tragic situation if not for our good park employees. Again — Thank you.