Gun 'Show and Tell' at New Year's Party Sparked Sequence of Events Leading to Ranger Shooting

About nine people were attending a house party in Skyway on the morning of January 1 where four people were shot before one person is believed to have then driven into Mount Rainier National Park and shot park ranger Margaret Anderson, a King County Sheriff's Office press release said today.

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The party took place at a residence on the 6200 block of S117 Place and during the evening, the group had a 'show and tell' of various guns. At midnight, at least two people fired multiple rounds into the air.

One man at the party asked to see a gun belonging to another person at around 3 a.m. When he was asked to return the gun, he refused, thereby sparking a fight and at one point at least two people pulled guns and a shootout followed.

Witnesses said that Benjamin Colton Barnes, whose body was recovered from Mount Rainier National Park Monday and is suspected in the shooting death of park ranger Margaret Anderson, was one of the people who pulled a gun and fired.

Barnes left the house along with two other people after the shooting. Detectives located the two and had been working with Barnes' family to convince him to come to police.

As of Tuesday, detectives have not yet been able to speak with the four shooting victims. It remains unclear who shot first and who was shot by whom. 

Detectives will be processing forensic evidence as the investigation continues.  

All four victims remain hospitalized: two are stable and two have critical injuries.