MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WYO. — The National Park Service has released a community briefing video that includes body camera footage from a July 4 incident at Canyon Village where law enforcement officers shot and killed a man who had threatened to carry out a mass shooting, and who fired at officers who were searching for him.
The video shows portions of the body-worn camera footage from some of the involved law enforcement officers, and was released “as part of the National Park Service’s established protocol regarding officer-involved shootings,” according to a statement from the park’s public affairs office.
According to a narrative included as part of the the video, Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, 28, of Milton, Florida, had held a concessions employee against her will using a knife and handgun the night before the shooting. Fussner was an employee of Xanterra Travel Collection, the park’s primary concessioner, and was threatening to shoot people in and around the park the next day, July 4.
A 911 call included in the video has audio of a Xanterra security guard calling to notify law enforcement of the incident. More than 20 Park Service law enforcement officers were mobilized around Canyon Village to located Fussner, based on his threats to shoot into the employee dining facility there, and engage in mass shootings at 4th of July events in the area.
Park police located Fussner’s vehicle in the Canyon Village parking lot and found an unsecured handgun in it in plain sight. Around 8 a.m. on July 4, Fussner emerged from the woods and began firing a semi-automatic rifle, according to the briefing video.
Four park police officers engaged in a gunfight to stop Fussner and protect the approximately 200 people nearby. Fussner fired through an open loading dock door at the back service entrance of Canyon Lodge and struck one officer “in a lower extremity” before he was shot and killed. No other injuries were reported and the shot officer was treated and released.
The video “is intended to help community members gain a better understanding of what occurred,” the statement said. The FBI is still investigating the shooting, including actions taken by Park Service law enforcement officers, as part of a routine response to such incidents.
Portions of the video, which contains graphic images and strong language, have been redacted or edited “to protect the privacy of the individuals involved,” the statement said.
