New particulars have emerged concerning the Yellowstone Nationwide Park shooter, who federal authorities say tried to hold out a Fourth of July terrorist assault when he opened hearth on a eating facility full of 200 folks final summer time.
Newly launched court docket paperwork reveal that 28-year-old Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner had a historical past of sharing white supremacist views on-line and with members of the family.
Based on these asset forfeiture court docket filings, Fussner was an lively member of the Vanguard Information Community, “a web site discussion board devoted to white supremacist and antisemitic views” that the Southern Poverty Regulation Middle recognized as a neo-Nazi hate group.
In March 2024, Fussner took to the discussion board to debate his despair and loneliness with different Vanguard members, stating that he was “on the precipice of a breakdown” and reiterating “his perception in and need for a white nation, whereas lamenting his incapability to attach with others,” court docket paperwork state.
“This 12 months could be my final,” he wrote within the March 2024 put up. “I don’t consider in suicide, however I do consider in a final stand.”
Fussner, who’s initially from Florida, additionally wrote that he needed to develop into employed in a “good white mountainous space or state park” to show himself to completely different white folks, including, “If I’m nonetheless unable to make one thing of that have, sit up for sometime seeing me within the information.”
Simply days earlier than the July 4 assault, he texted his brother complaining about his psychological well being, his issues with girls, and the Yellowstone space.
Utilizing slurs to explain the world’s racial make-up from his perspective, he texted that the group is “80% J1s. 50% ch**ok/30% spic … Whites appeared to have disappeared … Very odd hellscape I’m in.”
After sharing that he “can’t do it anymore,” he instructed his brother of his plans to hold out an Independence Day taking pictures in an space the place there are fireworks as a result of “crowds there will probably be simple targets.”
The night time of July 3, he used a knife and a handgun to carry a girl who rejected his romantic advances hostage in her dorm room for 2 hours, utilizing that point to rant about “immigrants, African Individuals, and Jews, and the way they had been negatively affecting the nation,” court docket paperwork state.
Whereas raving about these racist ideations, he shared his plans to hold out a mass taking pictures on the worker eating room in Canyon Lodge and the fireworks show at West Yellowstone, Montana. He mentioned he “needed to do one thing main as a result of politics in America are tousled, and regulation enforcement was going to should kill him.”
Courtroom paperwork say that he additionally shared that he thought “all blacks had been evil and reported hating Jews.”
Fussner left the dorm room shortly after the girl’s roommate confirmed up. As soon as he left, the sufferer referred to as safety, informing them of the hostage scenario and Fussner’s plans to hold out a mass taking pictures.
Nationwide Park Service rangers spent that night time trying to find Fussner however had been unsuccessful. They continued their search the subsequent morning and posted guards on the Canyon Lodge eating facility.
At 8:05 a.m. on July 4, the rangers noticed Fussner approaching the eating corridor armed with an assault rifle. After ordering him to cease, Fussner aimed his weapon at a ranger and fired, resulting in an alternate of gunfire that resulted in Fussner’s dying.
One ranger was shot in his proper foot and needed to endure a number of surgical procedures that resulted within the lack of a number of toes. Nobody else was damage.
Authorities found a number of weapons, magazines, and ammunition in Fussner’s Nissan Rogue, which was alleged to be his getaway automobile and was parked a brief distance away from the eating facility. That automobile and people weapons had been seized by the federal authorities.
