Updated at 8:50 p.m. ET: Brandon Friedman, an Army combat veteran in Afghanistan and Iraq and author of the highly regarded memoir "The War I Always Wanted," warned against linking post-traumatic stress disorder or conditions at Joint Base Lewis-McChord to Barnes' alleged behavior.

There's "obviously no question of a tie between combat and PTSD," Friedman said in a Twitter message to msnbc.com. "But having PTSD doesn't signify a propensity to murder Americans."

Mount Rainier National Park remains closed until at least Saturday, park officials said.

Barnes was from Riverside County, Calif., and as a teenager attended a community day school for expelled and troubled students, the Press-Enterprise newspaper reported. A young man who answered the door at the family's home said the family had no comment, the paper said.

Original post: The Iraq war veteran believed to have killed a park ranger Sunday was last stationed at a Washington base considered among the military's most troubled facilities, where suicides and violence among service members have reached record levels.

Authorities said they believed Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24 — who was found dead Monday, apparently of hypothermia, in Mount Rainier National Park — shot and killed Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, 34, on Sunday. He is also believed to have shot and wounded four people, two of them critically, earlier in the day at a New Year's party in Skyway, near Seattle, authorities said.

Barnes, a private first class, was discharged from the Army for misconduct in 2009 after he was charged with drunken driving and improperly transporting a privately owned weapon at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. Lewis-McChord has drawn national attention for widespread problems with post-traumatic stress disorder among service members returning from Afghanistan and from Iraq, where Barnes served in 2007 and 2008.

In July, the mother of Barnes' young daughter said in court papers seeking a protection order that he "has possible PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) issues," NBC station KING of Seattle reported. In seeking sole custody of the girl, she said Barnes was suicidal and "gets easily irritated, angry, depressed and frustrated." 

The woman said Barnes had numerous weapons in his home, including firearms and knives, adding: "I am fearful of what Benjamin is capable of with the small arsenal he has in his home and his recent threat of suicide."

A year ago, the military newspaper Star and Stripes rated Lewis-McChord as the most troubled base in the entire U.S. military, with multiple criminal and military investigations under way into troops' behavior and the quality of the medical and mental health care for service members returning from the war.

And that was before the base set a record for presumed suicides in 2011, with 12, according to military statistics scheduled to be released this month but obtained by The Tacoma News-Tribune.

The Army directed base officials last year to focus specifically on the mental health of members of the 5th Stryker Brigade, which saw heavy action in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010. Barnes served with a Lewis-McChord Stryker brigade, although officials said they didn't immediately know whether it was the 5th.

The problem isn't confined to Lewis-McChord. In a paper for the Army War College last year (.pdf), Army Col. Ricardo M. Love reported that "veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at an alarming rate."

A 2008 RAND Corp. study indicated that 18 percent of all service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 had "PTSD or major depression." Only about half seek treatment, it said.

"Although Commanders are conducting tough and realistic training prior to deployment, the high number of returnees diagnosed with PTSD indicates we are not doing enough," Love concluded.

But the problem is especially severe at Lewis-McChord, which the Los Angeles Times profiled as "a base on the brink" just last week.

"I can tell you that in the last two years, we have had 24 instances in which we contacted soldiers who were armed with weapons," Bret Farrar, police chief in nearby Lakewood, told the newspaper. "We've had intimidation, stalking with a weapon, aggravated assault, domestic violence, drive-bys."

The issues have come to widespread public attention after Lewis-McChord's heaviest year of deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, where 18,000 soldiers from the base served in 2009-10.

The base, near Tacoma about 50 miles south of Seattle, has seen numerous violent incidents, leading to several charges and convictions of soldiers for serious crimes. According to The Seattle Times, they include:

• Pfc. Dakota Wolf, 19, who is charged in the stabbing death Nov. 30 of a 19-year-old woman in a Seattle suburb while AWOL.
• Sgt. David Stewart, 38, who killed himself and his wife after leading authorities on a high-speed chase in April. Their 5-year-old son was found dead at home.
• Spc. Ivette Gonzalez Davis, 24, who was sentenced to life in prison in August 2010 for shooting two soldiers and kidnapping their baby.
• Sgt. Sheldon Plummer, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for strangling his wife in February 2010.

Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook

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Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

A New York City police officer stands outside a residence that was hit by a firebomb in Queens.

Updated 10:38 p.m. ET

NEW YORK -- A suspect has been arrested in the firebomb attacks over the weekend, including one at a prominent Islamic cultural center, police said.

Ray Lazier Lengend, 40, of Queens, was charged Tuesday night with five counts of criminal possession of a weapon, one count of arson as a hate crime and four counts of arson, police said.

See video, more coverage at NBCNewYork.com

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Lengend made statements earlier Tuesday implicating himself in the attacks and had personal grievances with each targeted location.

 Crude Molotov cocktails were tossed into a convenience store, two homes in Queens, one in nearby Nassau County, and an Islamic center.

One of his grievances included wanting to use the bathroom at the Islamic center school, but being blocked from doing so, sources told NBC New York.

Authorities are still investigating whether the incidents are bias crimes.

Lengend was tracked through a car with Virginia license plates that was believed to be at the scene of at least two of the attacks Sunday evening, according to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

Authorities believe Lengend was kicked out of the convenience store on Dec. 22 for trying to steal a glass Starbucks bottle and milk. Four of the five crude Molotov cocktails thrown at the various locations were made from glass Starbucks bottles, Kelly said.

Witnesses reported the man made threats as he was escorted out, Kelly said.

"When they were pushing him out of the store, he said words to the effect that 'We're going to get even. We're going to get back at you,'" Kelly said.

No one was injured in any of the attacks. The attacks wrought little or no damage at most of the locations.

The first hit was at 8 p.m., when a bottle was thrown at a counter at the corner convenience store where the man was kicked out.

Ten minutes later, a possible firebomb smashed through the glass at a nearby home, setting it on fire and badly damaging it. Three children were inside.

About half an hour later, the Imam Al-Khoei Foundation, an Islamic center, was hit with two, one at the entrance where about 80 worshippers were dining, and one near a sign for the center's grade school.

And shortly after 10 p.m., two bottles were thrown at a house that police said was used for Hindu worship services, causing minimal fire damage.

Later Sunday night in Elmont, Nassau County, just east of Queens, there was another firebombing. A homeowner reported hearing glass shattering and smelling gasoline and found a broken glass bottle on his porch, county police said.

Detectives located the car with Virginia plates in Queens and staked it out, noticing the man who fit a police description of the suspect trying to get into it Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, religious and city leaders met at the Islamic center to urge tolerance, though it remained unclear whether the incidents were hate crimes.

"As I said before, we don't know what the motive was," Mayor Bloomberg said. "But in New York City, as you know, we have no tolerance for violence, and certainly no tolerance for discrimination."

"Whether it was senseless violence or a hate crime will be determined down the road. But in either case, we're just not going to tolerate it in this city."

This article includes reporting by Shimon Prokupecz and Andrew Siff of NBCNewYork.com and by The Associated Press.

Earlier story:

Police are questioning a person of interest in the firebomb attacks over the weekend, including one at a prominent Islamic cultural center, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Tuesday.

The man was tracked through a car with Virginia license plates that was believed to be at the scene of at least two of the attacks Sunday evening on a convenience store, two homes and the cultural center, Kelly said.

The man was kicked out of the convenience store on Dec. 22 for trying to steal a glass Starbucks bottle and milk, authorities believe. Four of the five crude Molotov cocktails thrown at the various locations were made from glass Starbucks bottles, Kelly said.

Witnesses reported the man made threats as he was escorted out, Kelly said.

"When they were pushing him out of the store, he said words to the effect that 'We're going to get even. We're going to get back at you,'" Kelly said.

No one was injured in any of the attacks, and it remains unclear whether they were linked. The attacks wrought little or no damage at most of the locations.

The first hit was at 8 p.m., when a bottle was thrown at a counter at the corner convenience store where the man was kicked out.

Ten minutes later, a possible firebomb smashed through the glass at a nearby home, setting it on fire and badly damaging it. Three children were inside.

About half an hour later, the Imam Al-Khoei Foundation, an Islamic center, was hit with two, one at the entrance where about 80 worshippers were dining, and one near a sign for the center's grade school.

And shortly after 10 p.m., two bottles were thrown at a house that police said was used for Hindu worship services, causing minimal fire damage.

Police also were investigating a possible firebombing Sunday night in Elmont, Nassau County, just east of the city borough of Queens. A homeowner reported hearing glass shattering and smelling gasoline and found a broken glass bottle on his porch, county police said.

Detectives located the car with Virginia plates in Queens and staked it out, noticing the man who fit a police description of the suspect trying to get into it Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, religious and city leaders met at the Islamic center to urge tolerance, though it remained unclear whether the incidents were hate crimes.

"As I said before, we don't know what the motive was," Mayor Bloomberg said. "But in New York City, as you know, we have no tolerance for violence, and certainly no tolerance for discrimination."

"Whether it was senseless violence or a hate crime will be determined down the road. But in either case, we're just not going to tolerate it in this city."

This article includes reporting by Shimon Prokupecz and Andrew Siff of NBCNewYork.com and by The Associated Press.

Family photo

Amanda Cummings family photo

A 15-year-old who a witness says jumped in front of a Staten Island bus was carrying a suicide note when she was struck, distraught because she was the target of bullying at her school, according to a relative.

Amanda Diane Cummings, a sophomore at Staten Island's New Dorp High School, was hit by a city bus on Dec. 27 and died Monday from her injuries. A police spokesman told The Staten Island Advance that Amanda had a suicide note with her when a witness saw her jump in front of the bus at about 7:30 p.m., but authorities did not disclose the contents of the note.

Keith Cummings, Amanda's uncle, said his niece had been taunted by bullies, who stole her phone and other belongings. 

“She had to be picked up from school because she was worried about being beat up,” Cummings told 1010 WINS radio. The day before the accident, she got an email from her boyfriend saying that he was dumping her, he added, CBSNewYork.com reported. Cummings said he thought it pushed Amanda over the edge.

• Story: Bullied girl's suicide has ongoing impact

Cecil Weber, Amanda's mother, told The Staten Island Advance on Tuesday that police were investigating cirucumstances surrounding Amanda's death, and she called it "an accident."

"She was fun-loving and was always kind to everyone around her," Weber said.

Keith Cummings told The Advance he will seek criminal redress against Amanda's tormenters, some of whom he said even posted cruel comments on her Facebook page while she lay injured in the hospital.

“I’m not going to tolerate this. I’m gonna go full force,” he told The Advance. “Kids can’t do this to each other.”

New Dorp High School has about 2,600 students, according to New York City's government website.

The city medical examiner will determine the cause of Amanda's death.

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Mark Duncan / AP

Treasa Thomas clears snow from her car on a downtown Cleveland, Ohio street on Tuesday. More snow is expected.

Frigid air blasting over the Great Lakes blew in the season's first major lake effect snowstorm on Monday, blocking visibility and causing massive pileups on icy roads from Michigan to Kentucky.

As much as 2 feet of snow was expected to fall on upstate New York by Tuesday as the storm moves eastward from Michigan, where over 1 foot of snow fell by Monday afternoon, said meteorologist Bernie Rayno on Accuweather.com.

"You can see all of the snow showing up from the upper Peninsula of Michigan through western New York state, all the way through western Virginia and Kentucky," Rayno said.

"It's this west-northwest flow over the lakes that's causing this lake effect," he said.

Blustery winds were forecast to continue over the Great Lakes, causing heavy snow showers downwind of the lakes early in the day but becoming more scattered in the afternoon.

On Monday, strong gusting winds and close to zero visibility were blamed for highway crashes such as a 30-car pileup south of Cincinnati that closed parts of Interstate 75, police said.

Story: Season's first snow in central U.S. causes crashes

Near Indianapolis, Indiana State Police were working to clear 80 crashes in just over four hours that were caused by slick road conditions which shut sections of Interstates 70, 465 and 65.

"People are sliding into barrier walls and on slick ramps," said Sergeant Rich Myers of Indiana State Police. 

Winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings, and lake-effect snow watches and warnings were to remain in effect for areas downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario through Tuesday evening.

In addition to snow, strong northwest winds of 15 to 25 mph were forecast and were expected to affect traffic with periods of blowing and drifting snow and reduced visibilities.

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Updated at 12:29 p.m. ET:

LOS ANGELES - A State Department official says a German man was identified as a suspect in the Los Angeles arsons because his mother was the subject of a provisional arrest request by Germany, The Associated Press reported.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing, the official told AP on Tuesday that authorities learned about Harry Burkhart while working on his mother's case and recognized her 24-year-old son in security video of the arson suspect.

Los Angeles authorities were alerted and Burkhart was arrested Monday.

Another federal law enforcement said Burkhart was present when his mother, Dorothee, was arrested Dec. 28 by U.S. marshals and Los Angeles police. That official spoke anonymously because the official was not authorized to discuss the case.

Earlier:

LOS ANGELES - A man who was arrested in connection with a string of arson fires across the Los Angeles area reportedly told police officers, "I hate America," when they put him in handcuffs on Monday.

According to a witness the suspect, 24-year-old Harry Burkhart from Germany, uttered the words as he was pulled over and arrested early Monday, L.A. Weekly reported.

Police made the arrest after a tip from federal officials who thought they recognized the grainy figure caught on a surveillance video near where a car fire was reported.

Burkhart was booked for investigation of arson of an inhabited dwelling. Since the arrest, firefighters have not responded to any other suspicious fires.

"Our long four-day nightmare is over," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

• Story: Suspect booked in connection with LA arsons

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported that police searched a home on West Sunset Boulevard Monday evening. According to witnesses, the search took place in a second-floor apartment above the Le Figaro Hairstyling hair salon, the Times said.

"I cut his hair just a week and a half ago," said Shlomo Elady, a stylist at the salon who told the Times Burkhart had been customer for more than a year. "I'm in shock. He's my client. I never saw any sign of trouble."

Sam Mircovich / Reuters

Los Angeles County Reserve Deputy Sheriff Shervin Lalezary (right), who spotted the now detained man driving a van, smiles as he is introduced by Sheriff Lee Baca (left) during a news conference in Los Angeles Monday.

Police declined to reveal any motive for more than 50 fires that have occurred since Friday in Hollywood, neighboring West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, causing about $3 million in damage.

However, the 24-year-old, who told officers he's from Frankfurt, may have been upset about his mother's legal woes.

When asked at a news conference about reports that an immigration problem with Burhkart's mother may have been a factor, authorities declined to comment.

Galina Illarionova, who lives in the same apartment complex as the suspect, told reporters through a Russian translator that an agitated Burkhart visited her Sunday and said that his mother was having some kind of legal problems.

He told her his mother was in trouble with the authorities and wanted Illarionova to attend a legal hearing with him, but he later said he didn't need her help.

'Most dangerous arsonist'
"We are very confident in this arrest, but we have a long way to go," said Police Chief Charlie Beck, who mentioned receiving information from federal authorities who recognized Burkhart from the video. They believed he had been involved in removal hearings in immigration court, but they didn't specify how he was involved.

Burkhart, who is being held without bail, was described by Sheriff Lee Baca as the "most dangerous arsonist in Los Angeles County that I can recall."

Authorities didn't know how long he's been in the United States and said he isn't cooperating with them.

The onslaught of intentionally set fires left residents on edge over the holiday weekend in some of the most densely populated areas of the city.

Hundreds of investigators, police officers and firefighters raced to deal with the blazes. Police conducted extra patrols all weekend, and the noise of helicopters and sirens persisted virtually nonstop in Hollywood.

The blazes forced many apartment dwellers from their homes. But there were no serious injuries — one firefighter was hurt in a fall from a ladder, and another person suffered smoke inhalation.

Most of the fires began in cars, and authorities have not said how they were started.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Frigid air blasting over the Great Lakes blew in the season's first major lake effect snowstorm on Monday, blocking visibility and causing massive pileups on icy roads from Michigan to Kentucky.

As much as 2 feet of snow was expected to fall on upstate New York by Tuesday as the storm moves eastward from Michigan, where over 1 foot of snow fell by Monday afternoon, said meteorologist Bernie Rayno on Accuweather.com.

"You can see all of the snow showing up from the upper Peninsula of Michigan through western New York state, all the way through western Virginia and Kentucky," Rayno said.

The Ledger Independent / AP

Emergency crews work to remove a motorist trapped inside his vehicle on Monday near Maysville, Ky. A fast moving snow squall dumped nearly two inches of snow on top of freezing rain causing numerous accidents in the area.

"It's this west-northwest flow over the lakes that's causing this lake effect," he said.

Strong gusting winds and close to zero visibility was blamed for highway crashes such as a 30-car pileup south of Cincinnati that closed parts of Interstate 75 on Monday, police said.

Near Indianapolis, Indiana State Police were working to clear 80 crashes caused by slick road conditions that ended up shutting sections of Interstates 70, 465 and 65.

"People are sliding into barrier walls and on slick ramps," said Sgt. Rich Myers of Indiana State Police.

Strong winds will blow the snow showers as far inland as eastern New York and central Pennsylvania, the Weather Channel reported, with a few inches of accumulation possible in New England.

Across the whole of the Northeast U.S., gusts of up to 50 mph are forecast on Monday, it said.

“Cold and windy conditions are forecast to prevail across much of the northeastern quarter of the country,” the National Weather Service said in an alert issued at 2:48 a.m. ET.

“High temperatures are forecast to remain in the 20s across much of the Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley on Monday before impacting the Mid-Atlantic and New England by the following day," it added. “Snow will be plentiful over the Great Lakes."

The Detroit Free Press said blizzard warnings were in place for several northern Michigan counties and that the Traverse City area in northwestern lower Michigan can expect about 20 inches of snow.

However, urban Detroit is likely to escape the worst of the snow, it added.

“I don’t know too many people who are complaining,” about the lack of snow in metro Detroit, Mike Richter with the National Weather Service in White Lake Township told the newspaper. “Except maybe for the ski resorts.”

• NBC Chicago: Wintry weather on tap 

Reuters contributed to this report.

Updated at 5:20 p.m. ET: Officials confirm that a body found earlier Monday is that of Benjamin Colton Barnes, the suspect in the killing of Mount Rainier National Park Ranger Margaret Anderson. Two weapons were found with the body.

No wounds were found on the body, suggesting he perished from the cold overnight. Barnes, an Iraq War veteran, was wearing just a T-shirt and jeans when his body was found in a river.

Updated at 2:20 p.m. ET: A body was spotted by aircraft in a remote area and there's a strong probability it is Barnes, a sheriff's spokesman says.

"One of the air units and some of the FBI SWAT team members and sheriff’s SWAT team members have found a body," said Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer. "We have not gotten to it, we are nowhere near it, it’s still buried in the snow."

Updated at 2:05 p.m. ET: A body believed to be that of Barnes has been found, the Washington State Patrol tweets.

Updated at 1:40 p.m. ET: A Pierce County source says a body thought to be that of Barnes has been found in a ditch, KING5 TV reports.

AP

Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, 34, was fatally shot Sunday.

Updated at 12:25 p.m. ET: Some 200 SWAT officers, police and rangers at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state were searching Monday for an Iraq War veteran suspected in the killing on Sunday of a ranger. Highlights from a news conference that just wrapped up:

• Rangers are trying to reach two people camping at a remote lake near the area that Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, fled to so that they can be escorted out;
• Barnes is in an area of deep snow and 6-10 miles from any inhabited area;
• Margaret Anderson, the ranger killed on Sunday, could not be reached by park staff for 90 minutes because the gunman was shooting at them before he fled into the woods;
• An aircraft with heat-sensing capabilities, as well as dogs and trackers in snowshoes are looking for Barnes;
• It's possible that Barnes had sufficient all-weather gear to survive overnight in the park's cold temperatures.

Updated at 11:35 a.m. ET: Barnes possibly suffers from post-traumatic stress following his deployments to Iraq, the mother of his child alleged in court documents. 

Barnes was involved in a custody dispute in Tacoma in July 2011, during which the toddler's mother sought a temporary restraining order against him, according to the documents. In an affidavit, the woman wrote that Barnes was suicidal and possibly suffered from PTSD after deploying to Iraq in 2007-2008. She said he gets easily irritated, angry and depressed and keeps an arsenal of weapons in his home.

Overnight, dozens of people were evacuated from the visitor's center and a small lodge.

Evacuee Dinh Jackson, a mother from Olympia, Wash., who came to Mount Rainier to sled with family and friends Sunday, said officials ordered people to hurry into the lodge after the shooting that killed a park ranger.

Officials had everyone get on their knees and place hands behind their heads as they went through the building, looking at faces to make sure the gunman was not among them, Jackson said.

"That was scary for the kids," she said.

Updated at 9:20 a.m. ET: About 125 people have been evacuated from the visitors center at Mount Rainier as authorities search for a gunman suspected of killing a park ranger.

Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer says the visitors were transferred from the park overnight in groups of vehicles over the span of a few hours.

He says teams looking for the suspect were assessing new tactical plans that they planned to put into place at daylight. About 150 officers converged on the park after ranger Margaret Anderson was shot to death Sunday morning.

Troyer says Barnes was a "strong person of interest" in the slaying. He's believed to be well armed and have survivalist skills.

Updated at 4:40 a.m. ET: Tourists stranded in Mount Rainier National Park amid the search for a gunman who shot dead a park ranger have begun to leave Paradise Lodge, NBC News reports. 

Five cars at a time were leaving with an armed escort. The evacuations were due to continue through the night.

Updated at 11:54 p.m. ET: A Mount Rainier National Park ranger was fatally shot following a New Year's Day traffic stop, and the 368-square-mile park in Washington state was closed as dozens of officers searched for the armed gunman over snowy and rugged terrain.

AP

Benjamin Coulton Barnes is seen in this undated photo provided by the Pierce County Sheriff's Dept.

Pierce County Sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said late Sunday afternoon that Benjamin Colton Barnes, a 24-year-old believed to have survivalist skills, was a "strong person of interest" in the slaying of Margaret Anderson.

A parks spokesman said Barnes was an Iraq war veteran. Authorities recovered his vehicle, which had weapons and body armor inside, Troyer said.

Barnes was also a suspect in the early Sunday morning shooting of four people at a house party south of Seattle, police said.

Authorities believed the gunman was still in the woods, with weapons. They asked people to stay away from the park, and for those already inside to leave.

"We do have a very hot and dangerous situation," Troyer said.

Tracks in snow
Troyer said authorities were following tracks in the snow they believe are from the gunman, and crews planned to bring an airplane through the area with heat-seeking capabilities.

"We believe we have a good track on him, but he's way ahead of us," Troyer said.

Kevin Bacher, a spokesman for the park, said about 125 people would spend Sunday night in the visitor center basement along with five law enforcement officers protecting the facility.

He said crews had considered removing them in armored vehicles, but decided not to take any risk. There was enough food at the center, but Bacher said diapers were running in short supply.

The park would remain closed Monday, officials announced late Sunday.

Jason Simpson, 29, of Kent, said his parents were still trapped at the visitor's center after traveling to the mountain for a day hike. His parents were able to make a call explaining their situation, and Simpson drove to the park entrance to wait.

"It's very distressing," Simpson said.

Sgt. Cindi West, King County Sheriff's spokesperson, said late Sunday that Barnes was connected to an early-morning shooting at a New Year's house party in Skyway, Wash., south of Seattle that left four people injured, two critically. That incident happened about 3 a.m., and stemmed from an argument over a gun.

West said three people fled the scene. Two were located, and West said authorities were trying to find Barnes and had been in contact with his family, trying to have them convince him to "come to the police and tell his side of the story" in the Skyway shooting.

At Mount Rainier around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, the gunman sped past a checkpoint, park spokesman Kevin Bacher said. One ranger began following him while Anderson eventually blocked the road to stop the driver.

Before fleeing, the gunman fired shots at both Anderson and the ranger that trailed him, but only Anderson was hit, Bacher said.

Ed Troyer / AP

In this pool photo provided by the Pierce Co. Sheriff's Dept., a police officer examines a car on a road at Mount Rainier National Park, Jan. 1. The car is believed to have been driven by Benjamin Colton Barnes, who officials say is a person of interest in the fatal shooting of a park ranger at the park Sunday morning.

Park superintendent Randy King said Anderson was a mother of two young daughters. She had served as a park ranger for about four years.

King said Anderson's husband also was working as a ranger elsewhere in the park at the time of the shooting.

"It's just a huge tragedy — for the family, the park and the park service," he said.

Adam Norton, a neighbor of Anderson's in the small town of Eatonville, Wash., said the ranger's family moved in about a year ago. He said they were not around much, but when they were Norton would see Anderson outside with her girls.

"They just seemed like the perfect family," he said.

The town of about 3,000 residents, which is a logging community near Rainier, is very close knit, he said.

"It's really sad right now," Norton said. "We take care of each other."

The shooting occurred on an unseasonably sunny and mild day. The park, which offers miles of wooded trails and spectacular vistas from which to see 14,410-foot Mount Rainier, draws between 1.5 million and 2 million visitors each year.

The Longmire station served as headquarters when the national park was established in 1899. Park headquarters have moved but the site still contains a museum, a hotel, restaurant and gift shop, which are open year-round.

Anderson was just the eighth national park ranger to be shot dead in the park system's history, the website Officer Down Memorial Page stated. A ninth was killed in a vehicle pursuit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.