have a picture of the man they are hunting. this is him. benjamin colton barnes, 24 years old, believed to have military experience and an assault rifle somewhere in the sprawling national park. and there's one other thing. police say barnes is their only person of interest in a shooting earlier today that left four people wounded outside seattle. so let's get more on this story. to mt. rainier national wark and komo tv's mark. what's the latest on the manhunt? >> we just stepped away from a police briefing seconds before we hit air here. what they are trying to tell us is the severity of barn peps the power and danger he potentially poses. they have not fully named him as a suspect, but the only person of interest in this particular shooting and, obviously, the shooting earlier this morning when it comes to the new year's eve shooting. barnes has a military background. definitely some familiarity with military weapons. we were told the car he owns was found at the location that had a cache of armor. also other weapons and survivalist gear is what they are telling us. the pierce county authorities are saying. so this is a guy that definitely knows what to do with weapons and has a background. we'll have some pictures later this evening for you as well of a tattooed barnes with his shirt off, posing with weapons. we've just been handed some of those pictures. we'll try to turn those around for a little later. but this person definitely has some power and danger. and they want to make sure that if he is out there, and is in these mountains right now walking around that the hundreds of people that are up there right now locked away in some of the lodges and cabins and visitors centers are going to be all right. >> well, that's got to be terrifying for them to think that somebody could be in their midst with an assault rifle. what else do you know about the shooting earlier in the day in skyway that he could be a part of, according to some reports? >> according to what we've been told by sources, this was a situation, a typical new year's eve party. 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. first of all, what about the visitors now in the park? are they aware of the man hunt? we know this is a very large park and there are a lot of people there on a holiday. >> yes, it is. it was a busy day today. one of our busiest winter days ever. luckily, we've been able to evacuate most of the people who were in the park safely. and those who are remaining are holed up in our primary visitor center, the jackson visitor center at paradise. there's over 100 people there. they are -- we believe -- in a safe location. they've got everything they need for their physical comforts. food, water, et cetera. and they are in the presence of five law enforcement officers who can provide some, you know, some security and protection. and we are going to keep them there until we believe that it's safe to travel down the road. given everything that you just heard about the suspect in this case, we don't want to try to have those people get to their vehicles and caravan down the parkway where there could be danger of being sniped at by a gunman. for now, they are going to sit tight in the visitors center. >> absolutely. what kind of square mileage are we talking about as far as the mt. rainier wapark, and what ar conditions like for a person on the run in this park? >> the park itself is huge. it's hundreds of square miles. the paradise area, the area that's accessible by road this time of year, is substantial. and the terrain that the suspect is traveling in is mountainous terrain. there's a lot of snow on the ground. in fact, there's about, oh, gosh, probably four or five feet of snow on the ground, including two feet of fresh powder. so it would be difficult to be able to move through quickly. and it's heavily forested. >> my goodness. and tell us about the park ranger, margaret anderson, who was gunned down. how long was she at the park and what can you tell us about her personally and her commitment to the job that she was doing. >> margaret worked at mt. 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. fled on foot through mt. rainier park. also tonight, police in a san diego suburb believe a shooting that left four people dead may be a murder-suicide. officers responded early sunday to a call of shots fired inside a condo. they found one body in a doorway. inside there were three more bodies. two men and a woman. police did not take chances when they got to the scene. >> upon the initial arrival of the coronado police department, they observed a male lying in the walkway in the doorway of the residence. our s.w.a.t. team did respond to the scene and with the assistance of a robot entered the residence and discovered the bodies of two additional deceased males and one deceased female. >> police do not believe there are any outstanding suspects, although they caution it is early in the investigation. a 12-year-old florida boy is in critical condition after being hit by a bullet apparently fired during a new year's celebration. the boy was sitting in the front yard of his home in ruskin, south of tampa, watching fireworks when he was hit. his relatives and neighbors say no one was firing a gun near the house. police believe the shot could have been fired from miles away. the new year began in flames in smoke as an arson spree in southern california intensified. seven more suspected arsons overnight bring 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. and 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 are taking this real personal. and they are going to commit themselves. and they aren't going to just discard any kind of rumor whatsoever. >> so far, only one injury to a firefighter. the mayor of west hollywood, the site of seven of the fires, says his city is densely populated and burning a car next to a house is like setting off an explosive. >> many of these buildings with open car ports of rent-controlled apartments. they are very dense. they are in parts of hollywood and west los angeles where we have 20,000 people living for square mile. each of these buildings contains hundreds of residents, many of them frail seniors. many families with children that can't move as quickly as young people. it's this new form of urban terrorism that we are seeing in our community. >> a $60,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest. in the wake of saturday's earthquake, state officials in ohio have ordered four wells be blocked from opening out of fear they could cause earthquakes. the wells pump fluid deep underground and were supposed to open in the next few weeks. an official explained the fear. >> what happens is the water acts as a lubricant. they were pumping water down at about 9,000 feet and it was working its way down in, and it wound up serving as a lubricant which then reduced the friction and we had the earthquakes. >> a magnitude 4.0 tremor struck ohio saturday. it's one of 11 to hit in the past year. the first test of the 2012 election season is less than 48 hours away. the iowa caucuses could set the tone for the rest of the race for the gop. but those who are strong in iowa may not be as strong elsewhere. the cnn political team is here to break it all down for us in two minutes. [ woman ] ♪ what i want this season ♪ if you'd like to try and guess ♪ ♪ it is something very special ♪ i would readily confess [ dogs barking ] ♪ 'cause all i want this season ♪ ♪ is something from your heart ♪ la da da, la da da [ male announcer ] thinking of others this holiday season, travelers. less than 48 hours left until the first votes are cast in the 2012 presidential race. the iowa caucuses. they are tuesday night. many of the republican hopefuls spent their holiday making their last sales pitch to voters. here's how the field looks in the latest closely watched des moines register poll. take a look at the top three. mitt romney in the lead, 24%. ron paul close behind at 22%. rick santorum, one of the biggest surprises now up to 15%. i'm joined here in the studio by cnn political director mark preston and in des moines, iowa, dana bash is standing by. dana, to you in a moment. mark is fresh off the airplane from des moines here to atlanta. welcome. >> thank you. >> and you have the front page of the "des moines register." so you should know what the pulse is and what the feeling is back in iowa. >> absolutely. spent the last weekend in iowa. this is what's going on out there right now. the voters are trying to figure out who they want to support in this race for the republican presidential nominee. out of nowhere, multiple story line lines. the des moines register poll which is considered the gold standard for the iowa caucuses shows that rick santorum has a good shot at it. >> he hasn't been speed dating in the state either as he accused the other contenders. he's been there on the ground -- >> a long time. >> -- boots on. why won't some in the republican establishment support mitt romney? they just won't. >> oh, i mean, where do we even start. look at the things he supports. the fact that he supports legalizing drugs. the fact he wants to bring all troops that are stationed abroad home to the united states. the list goes on and on from there. the issue, though, with ron paul is that he does also and has for a very long time, before it was cool, supported anti-government -- anti-debt kinds of ideals and positions. and so the electorate, the republican electorate has moved in that sense economically towards him. and that's why he is gaining -- has gained popularity because he talks about things that we saw the republican voters go for back in 2010 when they elected a house republican house. so that's the issue. but look. you definitely see so many republicans in the quote/unquote establishment trying very hard to stop his candidacy, particularly because of his views on foreign policy. >> we'll see what happens on tuesday. mark, let's talk about 12:01 wednesday morning. who is going where after iowa do you think? >> traditionally what you would happen is the winners out of iowa first, second or third would head into new hampshire. that would be the traditional path. however, what we're going to see this time around is that michele bachmann, who is the minnesota congresswoman, as well as texas governor rick perry, they are going to go to south carolina because that's where they feel that they have a stronger bond with those voters down there. meanwhile, rick santorum just said a short time ago on our air that no matter how he does in the iowa caucuses, he will go to new hampshire and compete in new hampshire. the problem for rick santorum in new hampshire, perhaps it's not a problem, is that mitt romney is considered to be the walk-away favorite in new hampshire. if rick santorum can show pretty well up in new hampshire, that could provide a little more fuel to his candidacy. he doesn't need to win new hampshire, but if he places well up there it could go a long way to help his campaign. >> in iowa, as well, perhaps that's helping him move toward new dana, newt gingrich has deflated in iowa. how does that have to do after turning the cheek after his rivals went negative on him? >> it has a lot to do with that, and a lot to do with the fact that these outside groups, the quote/unquote super pacs spent so much money with the strategic hit, really a hit, on newt gingrich. and he actually said today that he was -- he actually told jim acosta he was too slow to respond. listen to what he said. >> well, i was just struck by the politico analysis that -- of this sheer volume of anti-gingrich ads run by romney's pac. i'll let you decide how you would describe it. it's pretty -- for a state this size to spend that number of dollars in negative ads aimed at one candidate is pretty amazing. >> and i think he said he got romney boated, an illusion to really the first time we saw these kind of clandestine groups go after a candidate. of course, back in 2004 when john kerry got swiftboated. so there's no question about it. i'm sure mark can attest to this because he's spent a lot of time here over the past few weeks. that actually was intentional. that the romney campaign, they were very nervous about newt gingrich doing so well. so they took him out. and now even if mitt romney is second or third, if the top three are mitt romney, rick santorum and ron paul, the romney campaign thinks they are in pretty good shape going forward. >> dana bash, thank you for iowa. and thank you for coming to atlanta. we'll see you as the -- our coverage, of course, presses on. mark preston, thank you. tuesday night, the country's first real votes. the first true test take place. cnn's live america's choice begins tuesday night, 7:00 eastern. we have been talking a lot about hothe voters of iowa will support. what about the power brokers. the people on wall street who have the clout and the cash to make a huge difference in this election. our susan candiotti dug into the numbers to figure out who they are supporting. >> reporter: wall street is already flashing plenty of green for presidential contenders. here's a look at the latest numbers for the gop. so far, mitt romney is way out in front. the center for responsive politics says the former massachusetts governor has received more than $3.8 million from wall street stock brokers, brokerage companies and bond dealers through december 5th. romney's take is about five times more than the rest of his competitors combined. next is texas governor rick perry, followed by utah governor jon huntsman, texas congressman ron paul and minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann with the rest trailing her. >> you want to make nice with everybody, if you are a donor at this early stage in the race. typically, when you talk about the financial sector, you'll see donors giving more broadly to the establishment friendly kind of republicans. your mitt romneys, jon huntsman, rick perry. >> who were the top donors? remember these are not necessarily the companies themselves. they could also be people working for these companies or their political action committees. at the top, goldman sachs, $2 million. goldman is also romney's top wall street donor. next, bain capital, a firm whose specialties include corporate takeovers. romney is a former director there and still has ties. donors tied to bain give a majority of their money to democrats. how is president obama faring? he's been at odd with wall street from time to time because of regulations in the wake of the financial crisis. so far, gop candidates, including house and senate leaders, are getting nearly three times more than democrats. still, president obama is cashing in, collecting $1.8 million so far. that trails romney, of course, but it's still early. natalie? >> susan candiotti in new york, thanks. we're warned every new year's eve about the dangers of getting burned by fireworks. but this may be a new one. revelers injured when they swallowed fireworks. we'll have that story in two minutes. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer. new year's celebrations got out of hand in the philippines. health officials say fire crackers injured around 450 people in the capital manila. another 18 people were hit by stray bullets fired into the air. four people became sick after apparently mistaking fireworks for candy and swallowing it. on the bright side, officials say the number of injuries is down from last year. 2012 is off to an ugly start in syria. government opposition activists say at least ten people were killed today. the arrival of arab league monitors the past week has apparently done nothing to end the violence. and now critics within the arab league say the monitors should leave. muhammad janjum is watching developments for us. >> reporter: reports of more violence and demonstrations in syria. reports that people gathered there new year's eve, into the new year for an anti-government demonstration in which they were chanting anti-regime slogans and saying that they wished for a new year free of the bashar al assad regime. they were also amateur videos reporting to show cakes that were baked that were on display wishing syria a new year without its president bashar al assad. also reports on january 1st of demonstrations. also demonstrations in another province. also reportedly on january 1st, a huge funeral procession for a child who was reportedly killed in hama. the arab parliament which is an 88-member advisory committee to the arab league called on the arab league to withdraw its mission to syria because violence continues, even though those arab league monitors are on the ground there. the arab league issued a press release later in the day in which they said it was only the arab council who could stop that mission who could withdraw those observers, and that the observers on the ground there remain committed to their commission. muhammad jamjoom, cairo. the new year is ushering tens of thousands of new laws that could affect you from the funny to the not so much. we'll run through some of them next. nklin st. ♪ sea bass... ♪ ooohhh! ♪ i like it. yeah, i love the kitchen. [ male announcer ] the epa-estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from looking for your perfect home to finding it. chevy runs deep. [oinking] [hissing] [ding] announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. along with the new year comes a slew of new laws. nearly 40,000 of them from the controversial to the, well, quirky. josh levs has the highlights for us. >> a couple of interesting ones. hawaii and delaware began allowing same-sex civil unions today. in honolulu. couples ga