• Chopper pilot drops coffee cups to warn campers of suspected killer on the loose in national park

    By Jim Seida

    Imagine camping with friends when suddenly your campsite is invaded by the roar of a helicopter rotor.  That's what happened to Brian Vogt and his friends on Jan. 2 while sleeping in their tents in Rainier National Park.  "We thought we heard 'A ranger has been shot and killed, shooter at large,' " camper Brian Vogt wrote in an email exchange with The Seattle Times. But it wasn't all that clear.

    Matt Pokrywka via AP

    Jen Berthiaume, left, Natalia Martinez-Paz, center, and Brian Vogt are seen celebrating New Year's Eve, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011, while camping at Mount Rainier National Park, Wash. A helicopter crew searching for the gunman who killed a Mount Rainier National Park ranger on New Year's Day came across the small group of campers and used an unusual method to warn them the shooter was at large.

    That's when the pilot let fly his backup plan. He dropped a coffee cup with a warning scrawled in ink: "A ranger has been shot shooter at large. Call on cell if able to Pierce Co Sheriff."

    Jen Berthiaume via AP

    In these photos provided by Jen Berthiaume, a messages scrawled onto coffee cups that were dropped to a group of campers Jan. 2, 2011 while a search was going on for an armed suspect in Mount Rainier National Park, Wash., are seen. A helicopter crew searching for the gunman who killed a Mount Rainier National Park ranger on New Year's Day came across a small group of campers and used an unusual method to warn them the shooter was at large, writing messages on paper coffee cups and dropping them to the campers telling them of the danger.

    Brian Vogt via AP

    In this photo provided by Brian Vogt, the campsite of Vogt and his companions are seen as a helicopter hovers nearby at Reflection Lakes at Mount Rainier National Park, Wash., Monday, Jan. 1, 2012.

    Read the rest of the story on the Seattle Times.

    See our previous PhotoBlog post from the day of the shooting.

     

  • Ranger fatally shot at Mount Rainier National Park, armed gunman still at large

    Dean J. Koepfler / The News Tribune via AP

    Emergency vehicles speed to the scene of a shooting of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger as another ranger redirects traffic in Mount Rainier, Wash., Jan 1. The ranger, Margaret Anderson, was fatally shot following a New Year's Day traffic stop and authorities believed the gunman was still in the woods with an assault rifle.

    AP

    Park Ranger Margaret Anderson.

     

    AP reports:

    Park superintendent Randy King said that Anderson is a mother of two young daughters who has served as a park ranger for about four years. King said Anderson's husband also was working as a ranger elsewhere in the park at the time of the shooting.

    "It's just a huge tragedy — for the family, the park and the park service," he said.

    Read the full story.