Man in shootout with Yellowstone rangers was worker from Florida

Posted 7/6/24

The man killed in a July 4 shootout with Yellowstone National Park rangers has been identified as a 28-year-old Florida resident who’d been working in the park.

On Saturday …

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Man in shootout with Yellowstone rangers was worker from Florida

Posted

The man killed in a July 4 shootout with Yellowstone National Park rangers has been identified as a 28-year-old Florida resident who’d been working in the park.

On Saturday morning, following the notification of family members, the Park County Coroner publicly named the deceased as Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner of Milton, Florida. Fussner, who apparently went by Lucas, had been working for the park concessionaire Xanterra this summer, according to information he posted to a social media profile.

Officials have released few details about the incident at Canyon Village, which started Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning. The National Park Service has said only that rangers received a report of an armed person — apparently Fussner — making threats.

“When rangers contacted the individual there was an exchange of gunfire between the subject and law enforcement rangers,” park officials said in a release. Fussner was killed in the exchange, while a ranger was injured. The officer was taken to an area hospital and, as of Thursday, was considered to be in “stable” condition.

Yellowstone is an exclusive federal jurisdiction, where crimes are solely handled by federal agencies. In this case, the incident is being investigated by the FBI.

However, Canyon Village and the rest of the northern half of the park also fall within Park County, which is why Coroner Cody Gortmaker was summoned to take custody of Fussner’s body Thursday night. An autopsy was conducted Friday, and Gortmaker said it concluded that Fussner “died from injuries sustained by Yellowstone Park rangers.”

Given the federal involvement, Gortmaker said he couldn’t release any further details, adding that both he and the FBI are continuing to investigate.

A cursory check of court records in the Milton, Florida, area turned up no notable criminal records for Fussner. He shared an image of an Xanterra employee badge in early May that indicated his employment in Yellowstone had been set to run through mid-September.

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