Massive manhunt for Iraq veteran after Park Ranger gunned down

Massive manhunt after ranger slain at Rainier
Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, a mother of two who was married to another ranger at the park, was shot about 10:30 a.m. Sunday after setting up a roadblock to stop a car that was fleeing another officer.

By Mike Carter, Craig Welch, Steve Miletich and Jack Broom
Seattle Times staff reporters
Sunday, January 1, 2012

Massive manhunt after ranger slain at Rainier
In this undated photo provided by the Pierce County Sheriff's Dept., Benjamin Colton Barnes, is shown. Officials said Barnes is a person of interest in the fatal shooting of a park ranger at Mount Rainier National Park, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012 in Washington State.

A man who was being sought in the shooting of four people at a New Year's party in South King County early Sunday is suspected in the fatal shooting of a park ranger in Mount Rainier National Park later in the morning.

Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, a mother of two who was married to another ranger at the park, was shot about 10:30 a.m. after setting up a roadblock to stop a car that was fleeing another officer.

She was shot when the driver apparently stepped out of the vehicle with a shotgun and opened fire. It took authorities nearly 90 minutes to get to her because the assailant continued to fire an assault rifle at Pierce County SWAT team officers as they tried to assist the injured ranger, officials said.

Anderson was the first park ranger shot and killed in the line of duty at Mount Rainier.

Nearly eight hours earlier, King County sheriff's deputies responded to shots fired at a party in Skyway, where an early-morning session of "show and tell" with guns among several armed partygoers devolved into a shootout, according to detectives.

Four people were shot, and three people fled the scene. One of them was identified as Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24.

Barnes is the father of a 1-year-old daughter, and custody documents filed in Pierce County Superior Court by the child's mother describe him as an Iraq war veteran plagued by anger and depression who was hospitalized after threatening suicide last January.

In July, the mother, Nicole Santos, petitioned the court for an amended parenting plan and restraining order, citing threats of violence by Barnes.

"I just feel there is so much instability," Santos wrote in a July 19 petition seeking to restrict Barnes' access to the child.

"I think it is important for the court to know that Benjamin was also deployed to Iraq in 2007-2008 and has possible PTSD issues," she wrote, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder. "He gets easily irritated, angry, depressed and frustrated.
read more here

UPDATE
Police Believe Body Found is Gunman Sought in Mount Rainier National Park Ranger Shooting
Published January 02, 2012
Associated Press


MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Washington – A plane searching the slopes of Mount Rainier National Park for an Iraq War veteran suspected in the slaying of a park ranger found a body believed to be his lying face down in chest-deep snow Monday, authorities said.

It could be several hours before authorities reach the body. While they haven't identified the body, they believe it is that of 24-year-old Benjamin Colton Barnes.

"Obviously the strong probability is that it is" the gunman, Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

Barnes is believed to have fled to the remote park to hide after an earlier shooting at a New Year's house party near Seattle that wounded four, two critically. Authorities suspect he shot ranger Margaret Anderson later Sunday.

Police cleared out the park of visitors and mounted a manhunt for Barnes, who was believed to have weapons and survivalist training. The body was found face down, Washington State Patrol spokesman Guy Gill said.

Barnes has had a troubled transition to civilian life, with accusations he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and is suicidal.
read more here

Navy police called in for murder-suicide investigation

Four dead in apparent murder-suicide near San Diego

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Three men and a woman were found shot dead in an apparent murder-suicide at a home near San Diego after shooting broke out in the early hours of New Year's Day, police said.

Authorities in Coronado, a tony island enclave off the coast of San Diego, were called to a condo shortly after 2 a.m. on Sunday to investigate a report of shots fired at the residence, sheriff's Lieutenant Larry Nesbit said

Navy police from the nearby base at North Island were brought in to determine if any of the victims were in the military, Nesbit said.

read more here

Cop, veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, fired over PTSD he doesn't have?

Psychological testing didn't show any signs of PTSD but he lost his job all the same. This story shows how backwards things can be. They cannot be fired because they have PTSD but because the psychologist said he didn't have it, they were able to fire him. Twisted and wrong!

Ex-West Palm cop fights firing over PTSD allegations

By JANE MUSGRAVE
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 8:32 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011

Photo provided to The Post Matthew Ladd served two years in Afghanistan and Iraq. He is a sergeant in the Army Reserve, where he said none of his supervisors has questioned his ability to perform.

WEST PALM BEACH — When Matthew Ladd came home in 2008 after serving two years in Afghanistan and Iraq, he was more than ready to embrace civilian life.

He attended the police academy at Palm Beach State College. He landed a job with the West Palm Beach Police Department. Life was good.

Then, in October 2010, after spending roughly nine months patrolling city streets, his superiors said they wanted him to undergo a psychological review.

The review was uneventful. Ladd, the psychiatrist wrote, "is NOT suffering from any apparent psychiatric disorders."

"It is further my opinion within a reasonable degree of psychiatric/medical certainty that there are no psychiatric contraindications that would prevent or preclude Mr. Ladd from returning to full duty and performing the essential functions of a police officer," Dr. Norman Silversmith wrote on Oct. 12, 2010.

Six days later, Ladd was fired. His superiors told him they thought he had post-traumatic stress disorder .

"I thought it was a joke," Ladd said.
read more here

Caught on video: Unemployed Iraq Vet stops bullies on bus

Iraq war vet stands up to bullies on Lacey bus
by TONYA MOSLEY / KING 5 News

Posted on December 31, 2011 at 5:10 PM

Gallery
SEE ALL 2 PHOTOS »
LACEY, Wash. - Jim Hardie doesn't really see himself as much of a hero.

"I really don't feel like I have any more value than anybody else,” he said.

He's a family man with an eight-year run in the Marine Corps. But for the last two years he’s been riding the bus in search of a job.

Last week after a full day of searching, Jim sat across from three guys he felt were being disrespectful to everyone on the bus.
read more here

"Superman" Marine plugs own wounds with fingers

Marine shot during necklace robbery plugged bullet wounds with fingers

By Ihosvani Rodriguez, Sun Sentinel
9:14 p.m. EST, December 30, 2011

DEERFIELD BEACH—
One bullet went through his belly and lodged in his pelvis, while a second sliced through his chest and out his shoulder. Yet another grazed the back of his skull.

Shot and wounded while chasing thieves on foot, Lt. Col. Karl Trenker said he did what he had been trained to do as a 29-year veteran of the U.S. Marines with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Running with bullet holes wasn't working out well, so I plugged them up with my fingers," Trenker said Friday.

Trenker, 48, was not injured on the battlefield, but in an apartment complex parking lot in Deerfield Beach where he had gone to sell a necklace to a Craigslist buyer-turned-robber. Father and stepfather to seven children, Trenker was released Friday from North Broward Medical Center, nine days after the shooting.

Emergency physician Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, who removed part of Trenker's bowel and left a bullet in his pelvis, attributed the fact that Trenker is alive to his military training and lifestyle.

"When you hear someone is coming in with multiple gunshot wounds, you are concerned," Nichiporenko said. "He was in bad shape."

Trenker spoke several hours after leaving the hospital. He said he feels pain where a 10-inch surgery wound now crosses his stomach area. He walks with a slight limp, but that is expected to fade.

He recounted the moments leading up to the shooting, and described the actions that led his fiancee and doctor to refer to him as "Superman."
read more here