Police: Body found in Mount Rainier Park believed to be shooting suspect

(CBS/AP) MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. - A body found in Mount Rainier National Park is believed to be that of a gunman suspected in the shooting death of a park ranger, police say.

Public Information Officer Guy Gill said police searching Mount Rainier National Park by air saw the body of a white male face down in the snow with no heat signature.

Authorities believe it is the body of homicide suspect Benjamin C. Barnes, but that has not been officially confirmed.

The suspect was"spotted" by air in the Narada Falls area, the National Park Service said. Teams are making their way to the subject on the ground to verify his ID and determine whether he is dead or alive.

Barnes, 24, is believed to have died after trudging into chest-deep snow while trying to elude snowshoe SWAT team members and other police who were on his trail.

Barnes was an Iraq War veteran, and became a person of interest Sunday morning in the shooting death of Park Ranger Margaret Anderson after he sped past a car checkpoint in the park. Anderson, a 34-year-old mother of two young children who was married to another Mount Rainier park ranger, blocked the road to stop the driver and was shot.

Sgt. Cindi West, King County Sheriff's spokesperson, said late Sunday that Barnes was also 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.

Park spokesman Kevin Bacher said the speculation was that Barnes came to the park to run away.

Approximately 150 officers came to search the mountain park after Anderson's death Sunday morning, and others searched in an aircraft with heat-sensing capabilities. Around 120 tourists were evacuated from the park's visitor center as well.

A park spokesperson said the mother of Barnes' child had alleged he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder following his deployments.

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January 2, 2012 - Manhunt continues for gunman who killed ranger at Mount Rainier National Park