Yellowstone National Park released body-worn camera footage from a July 4 shootout with a suspect who threatened to kill an employee and carry out mass shootings at the Employee Dining Room at Canyon Village.
The suspect was killed in the shootout, and an officer sustained a gunshot wound to a lower extremity and transported to a medical facility for treatment, the National Park Service reported Thursday.
The video, which can be viewed from the above link, describes what happened during the incident at the iconic park.
“Just after midnight on July 4, the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center received a report that a concession employee had been unwillingly held by an individual for several hours on the late evening of July 3,” the video report states. “The individual, later identified by NPS law enforcement officers as Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, also a concession employee, allegedly came to the employee’s residence in Canyon Village armed with a knife and handgun.
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“The report also indicated that Fussner threatened to kill the employee and target the Employee Dining Room in Canyon Village the following day. The Employee Dining Room…is the primary food and beverage location for Canyon-based employees of Xanterra Parks and Resorts.”
The employee, who managed to escape, called for help and told officers that Fussner planned to carry out mass shootings at the Employee Dining Room and July 4 events outside the park.
Twenty National Park Service law enforcement officers, including the Yellowstone/Grand Teton Special Response Team, responded to the 911 call and began searching for the suspect in and around Canyon Lodge.
They found the suspect’s unoccupied and unlocked vehicle in the lodge’s main parking lot, and inside discovered an unsecured handgun.
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 video report states. “Fussner fired at Officer #3.”
Soon after, another officer shot Fussner, ending the shootout.
“This incident is still under investigation,” the NPS stated. “The investigation, which includes the actions taken by NPS law enforcement officers, is being led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
