John Williams, 11, holds a candle as he stands with other mourners at an evening vigil for park ranger Margaret Anderson on Sunday in Eatonville, Wash. Anderson was killed by a gunman on Jan. 1 during a traffic stop at Mount Rainier National Park. (Associated Press) |
Rangers and volunteers somberly embraced as Mount Rainier National Park reopened to the public this weekend following the shooting of a park ranger by an Iraq War veteran.
"We're here to take back the mountain today," park spokeswoman Lee Snook said Saturday.
Margaret Anderson, who had worked as a ranger with her husband at the park for three years, was shot dead New Year's Day by 24-year-old Benjamin Colton Barnes after he busted through a snow tire checkpoint.
Anderson, 34, worked at the C&O Canal National Historical Park from 2004-08, park officials said.
Authorities say Barnes, who showed signs of erratic behavior since returning from war, had fled to the mountain hours after a house party shooting in the Seattle suburb of Skyway that left four injured.
After killing Anderson and shooting at another ranger, Barnes fled for the woods, triggering a massive manhunt in the rugged terrain. He was found dead in a creek the following day. An autopsy showed he drowned.
On Saturday, small groups of visitors headed to the mountain's freshly powdered trails to snow shoe and cross-country ski. The flag at the ranger's kiosk remained at half-staff, and uniformed rangers wore black bands across their badges.
"This is a place to come to be happy," Allan Evans, a park volunteer from Graham, Wash., said after hugging a ranger who was on duty when Anderson was killed. "This is what this park is about. This is the first stop to trying to get everything as whole as can be."
"We need to celebrate Margaret, of course, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want everybody just sitting around mopey," Evans added.
A small memorial for Anderson, decorated with flowers and candles, has been placed next to the ranger kiosk.
Entry to the park was free Saturday. But the snow play area — a section popular with families — remained closed.
A candlelight vigil will be held Sunday in nearby Eatonville for Anderson, who left behind her husband and two children. A memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday in Tacoma.
The park, which offers miles of wooded trails and spectacular vistas from which to see 14,410-foot Mount Rainier, draws between 1.5 million and 2 million visitors each year.
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Associated Press writer Manuel Valdes contributed from Seattle.
Memorial service for Anderson scheduled for Tuesday
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma to celebrate the life of Mount Rainier National Park Ranger Margaret Anderson.
She was shot to death on New Year's Day while working at the park. The gunman was found dead the next day.
Anderson was married to another Rainier ranger and leaves two young children at the home in Eatonville. Family and friends held a candlelight service Sunday evening in Eatonville in her memory.
