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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Wednesday, November 29, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Glacier NP Confrontation With Armed Man On November 24th, a member of the park's road crew encountered a man in white camouflage walking along the Going to the Sun Road about seven miles past its winter closure point. Heavy snow had fallen the previous day and more was in the forecast. The man said that he intended to campout for several days, but did not appear to have camping equipment with him. A ranger was notified and contacted the man, a British citizen, after tracking his footprints off the road in the fresh snow. The man told the ranger that he'd been dropped off very early that morning by his girlfriend, and that he intended to walk over to the other side. The ranger convinced him that his plan was unrealistic and dangerous, given existing snow conditions, and offered to shuttle him back to Lake McDonald Lodge, where he could contact his girlfriend. While en route, the man made additional statements that led the ranger to believe that he was in the country without a valid visa. The ranger drove him back to the park headquarters, where a second ranger was waiting. When rangers told the man that they needed to frisk him prior to allowing him to enter the building, he became agitated and attempted to withdraw from them. He then stuck his arm inside his jacket, as if he was reaching for something. Rangers immediately grabbed his arm and prevented him from removing his hand from the jacket. During the struggle that followed, the man said that he had a gun in his hand and that he intended to use it. The rangers were eventually able to force him to the ground and handcuff him. During the subsequent search, the rangers retrieved a loaded .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun from a shoulder holster under his jacket, along with three loaded magazines and three large knifes, all with blades longer than six inches. One appeared to be an ornamental dagger with an eight-inch sharpened blade. Subsequent interviews revealed that the man allegedly entered the country illegally in 2000, and that he had been living as a transient at renaissance fairs since then. He told rangers that he had been diagnosed with cancer and had come to Glacier to commit suicide. He said that he had stolen the gun and intended to force the rangers to shoot him. Though the gun was not entered into NCIC, rangers subsequently contacted the gun's owner, who reported that she was not aware the gun had been stolen. Multiple federal charges are pending. The case is being jointly investigated by NPS rangers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. [Patrick Suddath, West Lakes District Ranger] OTHER NEWS Other news from today's edition of InsideNPS, the National Park Service's home page: NIFC - Newspaper story: “A ‘perfect storm' of conditions favoring destructive wildfires threatens to push the nation's firefighting capacity toward the breaking point, top federal fire officials have warned Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.” Saguaro NP - Cactus Forest Drive, located within the Rincon Mountain District, reopened recently following completion of a $1.8 million dollar renovation project. Everglades NP - Everglades National Park and the South Florida National Parks Trust will dedicate nine new bilingual roadside exhibits on Sunday, December 3rd. Rocky Mountain NP - Vaughn Baker, superintendent at Rocky Mountain NP, has been selected as this year's recipient of the Stephen T. Mather award, conferred annually by the National Parks Conservation Association. National Register - Connecticut's deputy state historic preservation officer, J. Paul Loether, will join the NPS in January as chief of the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Division. Risk Management - There will be a telstation training course on December 7th entitled "Congratulations, You're the Collateral Duty Safety Officer (CDSO): An Introduction to the Roles and Responsibilities of CDSOs." To link to InsideNPS, click on HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/ * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |