A multiagency team effort has a man in custody Wednesday after law enforcement officials said he fled into Olympic National Park with a rifle, forcing closures in the Deer Park and Hurricane Ridge areas earlier this week.
Penny Wagner, spokesperson for the park, said law officers were able to bring the incident at Deer Park to a safe resolution late Tuesday night with no injuries and that the individual is in custody.
The investigation is ongoing, charges are pending and further details will be forthcoming, she said.
Deer Park and Obstruction Point roads will remain closed at this time.
Park staff are currently working to reopen Hurricane Ridge, Wagner said.
Check the park Twitter and Facebook pages (twitter.com/OlympicNP and facebook.com/OlympicNPS) or call the Road & Weather hotline at 360-565-3131 for road status updates.
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Hurricane Ridge Road, the popular Olympic National Park thoroughfare, remained closed this morning after an armed man fled into the woods in the Deer Park campground area Sunday morning, Aug. 29, authorities said.
“There’s no known immediate threat to local residents, at least at this point,” Brian King, Clallam County chief criminal deputy, said Monday morning.
Park spokesperson Penny Wagner said there were no injuries as of Sunday night.
The incident occurred Sunday morning, King said.
Wagner said the park would have an update on the incident later Monday.
A recording on the park’s information line (360-565-3131), the roads will remain closed Monday — Deer Park Road at the park boundary and Hurricane Ridge Road above the Heart O’ the Hills campground.”
The park enlisted the help of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, King said.
King said a North Olympic Peninsula-area man armed with a long rifle whose friends said had been using methamphetamine fled into the woods in the Deer Park campground area some time Sunday morning.
King did not know Monday morning if the man is still at large.
“His last known location was in the park,” King said.
“They are looking for him in terms of his mental instability or concerns over his mental instability and that he is armed.”
A friend of the man alerted authorities to his behavior by calling 9-1-1, King said.
King said the FBI is involved in the investigation.
“There were concerns over access to trails from Deer Park. I assume there were concerns over trail access to all the locations in the park in the event he did head into the backcountry.
“The information that we’ve got that we have known to us is that he was 6 or 7 miles into the park, which is a pretty significant distance,” King said.
Law enforcement has in its possession “some writings” by the man, “some notes he had,” King said.
“I don’t know if we’d call it a manifesto. It’s in the possession of law enforcement.”
The park posted a notice about the incident on its website at 9:26 p.m. Sunday. It previously had directed the public to its social media updates via Facebook and Twitter.
“The areas of Deer Park and Hurricane Ridge will remain closed through the night for public safety due to an ongoing law enforcement incident,” it said.
“An individual who is armed and potentially dangerous was last known to be in the area of Deer Park. The National Park Service has worked throughout the day to help visitors in these areas exit the park. No injuries have been reported.
“A multi-agency response is in place. We have no additional information at this time.”
