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Authorities were alerted that the shooter was planning to carry out an attack on the Yellowstone facility

Authorities were alerted that the shooter was planning to carry out an attack on the Yellowstone facility

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Authorities were warned that a gunman was planning a mass shooting in the park just hours before he opened fire at a Yellowstone National Park staff dining hall entrance, wounding a park ranger, officials said Thursday.

The revelation came after authorities released video and other new details about the July 4 shooting, in which park rangers assigned to protect the Canyon Village facility killed Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, 28, of Milton, Florida, after he opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle.

Authorities had been searching for Fussner for hours before the shooting, after a security guard called 911 just after midnight on July 4. He said Fussner had just taken a woman hostage and told her he was going to attack the employee dining room.

The videos from park rangers’ body cameras show a chaotic scene during and immediately after the shooting in the world’s first national park, a place enjoyed by millions of people each year for its wilderness and tranquility. In one video, a park ranger can be seen shooting Fussner from an access door of a vehicle in the building.

In another video, another ranger approaches the wounded Fussner outside the building as he lies motionless on the ground, dressed in black with one hand raised at his elbow. Fussner remains motionless as the ranger reaches for his semi-automatic rifle and unstraps it from a belt.

According to park rangers, Fussner was also armed with a semi-automatic pistol.

Body camera footage shows a third ranger running from the nearby employee dormitories to the crime scene, shouting at unseen people, “Go back to your dorms!” As the ranger runs, about a dozen gunshots can be heard.

“Stay down! Stay down!” the ranger shouts to two people crouched behind the front wheel of an SUV. Authorities have blurred the faces of all the people in the videos to hide their identities.

As the ranger approaches the corner of a building, two other rangers stand with guns pointed at them and someone shouts, “The suspect is down, he’s not moving!”

Inside the rear entrance where the gunman struck, photos showed at least 18 bullet holes in the walls. There, the first ranger to exchange fire with Fussner was wounded in a “lower extremity,” park officials said.

Footage shows park rangers walking toward their injured colleague who is sitting on the landing of a concrete staircase.

“Are you okay?” someone asks.

“Yes, I’m fine,” the ranger replies, giving a thumbs up.

Park rangers said emergency responders attempted to help Fussner, but a doctor pronounced him dead.

Besides Fussner, the ranger was the only one physically injured that day in an area packed with about 200 concessionaires and park visitors. The ranger was treated at a hospital and released within a few days, park officials said.

Park officials have not identified the rangers involved in the confrontation, including the five at the scene of the shooting. Of the five, four activated their body cameras during and shortly after the shooting.

Under National Park Service policy, park rangers must activate their cameras when they make contact with someone, “except when there is an emergency situation requiring immediate action to save life or safety,” according to a National Park Service story posted Thursday with the edited series of bodycam videos, a recording of the initial 911 call, photos and diagrams from the scene.

The shooting prompted authorities to close Canyon Lodge, a complex of hotel rooms, cabins and dining facilities, for several days. The facilities are run by Yellowstone’s main tourism concessionaire, Xanterra Parks and Resorts, where Fussner worked during the summer.

Park rangers had been searching for Fussner for hours before the shooting. Late on July 3, Fussner held another concessionaire against her will at gunpoint and knife in her Canyon Village home.

Early on July 4, the woman reported that Fussner was making death threats to her and others and that he was planning to carry out a mass shooting at Independence Day events outside the park, park officials said in a statement five days after the shooting.

On Thursday, the text and voiceover added that Fussner told the woman he planned to carry out mass shootings in the employee dining room, as well as Fourth of July events outside the park. Officials have not said whether Fussner released the woman or if she escaped.

Yellowstone officials did not immediately respond to an email Thursday asking why they had not disclosed earlier that Fussner had told the woman he was planning a mass shooting in the dining room.

The incident is still under investigation by the FBI, and authorities have not cleared the rangers of wrongdoing in the encounter. Not all materials related to the encounter have been released.

The FBI did not immediately respond Thursday to a question about whether anyone else besides the park rangers witnessed the shooting.

After receiving a 911 call just after midnight on July 4 that Fussner had taken the woman hostage, rangers found Fussner’s vehicle, but not him. Inside, they found a gun.

The ensuing overnight search for Fussner involved more than 20 police rangers, including a special park response team. Around 8 a.m. the next morning, Fussner approached the service entrance of the eatery and opened fire.

Fussner’s Facebook page suggested he was proud of his job as a concessionaire at Yellowstone, a typically seasonal gig that often involves cooking and serving food to the park’s 3 million summer visitors. Such jobs tend to go to younger people in their early 20s; they’re often college students visiting from out of state.

Fussner posted a photo of his Xanterra Parks and Resorts badge and photos of himself in snowy Yellowstone scenes from mid-May. The posts didn’t hint at anger or other motivation.

Yellowstone often makes headlines for sometimes fatal wildlife accidents and the park’s famous hot springs. But shootings — despite the park’s millions of visitors and the region’s high rate of gun ownership — are rare.