we re in the cnn newsroom. hello, everyone. i m natalie allen in for don lemon tonight. a female forest park ranger fatally shot today inside mt. ra near national park inside washington state. a search is under way for the gunman. park officials say another ranger attempted to pull over a driver who then ran away. ranger margaret anderson then stopped the man who opened fire killing her before fleeing on foot. the park has been closed while the search continues. anderson, who was 34, is survived by her husband and children, ages 2 and 4. joining me by phone is park spokeswoman lee taylor. tell us what is the status of the search right now. have you located the man you re looking for? no, we have not located the shooter. he s still at large in the park.
and they have two small children, so it s a terrible loss. it s a great tragedy for the park service and all of us are grieving that loss greatly. absolutely and still a dangerous situation with the shooter on the loose. thank you so much for your time. we know you re so busy. park spokeswoman lee taylor. we ll keep our viewers apprised of developments. the new year begins in flames and smoke as an arson spree in southern california intensifies. seven more suspected arsons overnight bringing the total to 39 that have scorched neighborhoods in the hollywood area since friday. los angeles investigators say cars are being torched with the flames spreading to houses. one of those homes once belonged to jim morrison, lead singer for the doors. every lead, every possible rumor, you know, perception, whatever it is, our investigators are active. they re taking this as we ve talked about real personal and they re going to commit
shooter. he s still at large in the park. we have other agencies assisting us with trying to apprehend him and meanwhile, we ve been evacuating visitors from the lower parts of the park and we ve got about 85 people who are staying put in our main park visitors center until we think it s safe for them to leave. but you already had a lot of people in the park, right, when this happened? yeah, it was a busy day. it was a sunny day with, you know, nice weather and the holiday weekend, of course, so people had come up to play in the snow and go snowshoeing and cross country skiing and so, yeah, there were quite a few people in the park when this happened. tell us what happened. we understand one of the park rangers tried to pull this man over. take us through that that s right. we had ranger dan komecha who tried 0 pull this person over. he refused to stop so ranger anderson set up a blockade with her patrol vehicle to intercept him and when he reached that point he jumpe
obviously, seattle is a big spot for that up and down the sound. and so what happened was, according to what we ve been told by king county was that there was some sort of fight at this party, and apparently the suspect in this case, barnes, was asked to leave. there was some sort of fight. and then there was apparently someone who came back with weapons and started firing, hitting four people. and from what we ve been told, three of them are dead. so this is a serious situation that this man has been on the hunt essentially from the very early morning hours and coming to the park if it is the same man involved in both cases, as authorities believe, this is a man who definitely wanted to do nothing with any sort of authority figure. even so much as a gentle, docile park ranger. yes, and thanks so much. we appreciate it, john humbert from komo tv there out of seattle. thanks so much for your information. now on the phone from near mt. rainier, park spokeswoman lee taylor is with us.
rainier for about four years. like other park rangers, she was in the job not for money or for glory, but out of a love for the wild places in the national parks and because she believed in providing good service to the public. she was a person with a quick smile, a very gentle person, a very competent ranger, and i might add that she s also was also a young mother with two small children at home. so this gunman took the life of somebody who had a great deal to live for and was making great contributions to society by being a national park ranger. absolutely. such a tragic loss. we thank you so much. we know it s a very sad day for you. and you have a very serious situation on your hands with this gunman on the loose. park spokeswoman lee taylor. the suspect they are looking for right now, benjamin colton barnes, 24 years old.