Yellowstone National Park gunman held woman against her will and planned to carry out July 4th mass shooting, authorities say

The gunman who opened fire in Yellowstone National Park last week, leaving one ranger injured, had held a woman against her will and said he planned to carry out a mass shooting at July 4th events outside the park, authorities said.

The gunman who opened fire in Yellowstone National Park last week, leaving one ranger injured, had held a woman against her will and said he planned to carry out a mass shooting at July 4th events outside the park, authorities say. The shooter, identified as 28-year-old Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, died after an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement, the US National Park Service said in a news release Tuesday. The injured park ranger was flown to a nearby regional hospital in stable condition and has since been released, according to the agency. The shooting happened at Canyon Village, a cluster of lodges and cabins inside the park, north of Yellowstone Lake and away from the park’s busiest tourist areas. Yellowstone’s 911 dispatch center received a call just after midnight on July 4 reporting that a woman had been held against her will by an armed man in a residence at the village, the park service said. The woman also told law enforcement rangers Fussner “threatened to kill her and others, including plans to allegedly carry out a mass shooting(s) at July 4th events outside the park,” according to the release. Rangers found the suspect’s vehicle unoccupied in the Canyon area and determined he was likely armed and dangerous, the release said.