A popular US national park will remain closed Monday as police hunt a gunman who shot and killed a federal ranger before fleeing into the forest, authorities said late Sunday.
A major manhunt launched immediately after the New Year's Day shooting in Mount Rainier National Park failed to find the suspect by nightfall, which hampered efforts to track him amid sub-zero temperatures.
Local media named the suspect as Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, who allegedly killed 34-year-old park ranger Margaret Anderson after she set up a roadblock to corral the suspect who had sped away from an earlier traffic stop.
Barnes is reported to be a former soldier with previous run-ins with the law. He allegedly shot Anderson with a high-powered assault rifle before fleeing into the wilderness on foot at around 11:00 am local time.