Murder on Mount Rainer

"Police find body of man wanted in killing of ranger; Spotted during aerial search of Wash. park" by Mike Baker  |  Associated Press, January 03, 2012

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. - An armed Iraq war veteran suspected of killing a Mount Rainier National Park ranger managed to evade snowshoe-wearing SWAT teams and dogs on his trail for nearly a day. He could not, however, escape the cold.

A plane searching the remote wilderness for Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, yesterday discovered his body lying face down on the mountain, hours from where authorities could get to him.

Barnes is believed to have fled to the remote park on Sunday to hide after an earlier shooting at a New Year’s house party near Seattle that wounded four, two critically....

Barnes was involved in a custody dispute in July, during which his toddler daughter’s mother sought a temporary restraining order against him, according to court documents.

The woman told authorities that he was suicidal and possibly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after deploying to Iraq in 2007 and 2008 and had once sent her a text message saying “I want to die.’’

She alleged that Barnes got angry and depressed easily and kept an arsenal of weapons in his home. She wrote that she feared for the child’s safety....

The shooting renewed debate about a federal law that made it legal for people to take loaded weapons into national parks. The 2010 law made possession of firearms subject to state gun laws.

Bill Wade, the outgoing chairman of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said Congress should be regretting its decision.

“The many congressmen and senators that voted for the legislation that allowed loaded weapons to be brought into the parks ought to be feeling pretty bad right now,’’ said Wade.

Wade called the fatal shooting a tragedy that could have been prevented. He hopes Congress will reconsider the law, which took effect in early 2010, but doubts that will happen in today’s political climate.

Calls and e-mails to the National Rifle Association requesting comment were not immediately returned.

Media fears of gun violence in parks were unlikely to be realized, the NRA wrote in a statement about the law after it went into effect.

“The new law affects firearms possession, not use,’’ it said.

The group pushed for the law, saying people have a right to defend themselves against park animals and other people.

Parks spokesman Kevin Bacher said surviving overnight in the open on Rainier is difficult, but not impossible for a person with gear and skills.

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Also see: Wash. student allegedly tricked into stripping