Alleged racist rants of Yellowstone park shooter uncovered in new court filing

(CANYON VILLAGE, Wyo.) — In a new court filing, federal prosecutors allege the suspect who took a hostage and got into a shootout with Yellowstone National Park rangers in July ranted that he “refuse[s] to fraternize with race-traitors that support non-whites or Jews.”

The Wyoming U.S. Attorney made the filing on Monday in an attempt to gain ownership over the suspect’s guns and vehicles, which are in the possession of the federal government but not owned by them. In the filing, federal prosecutors call the suspect’s actions an act of terrorism.

Samson Fussner, the suspect who died in the shootout, allegedly made inflammatory comments about immigrants, African Americans and Jews while holding a woman hostage in her dorm room and in texts ahead of the shootout, according to federal prosecutors.

The filing claims Fussner had engaged in the “planning of and preparation to carry out a terrorist attack against the United States, its citizens and their property,” ultimately culminating in the events of the shootout and hostage kidnapping.

Fussner complained in texts to his brother about the local diversity, saying he lived in a “hellscape” and would “go postal” if he stayed in Yellowstone longer.

He allegedly also texted his brother that he was obsessed with the woman he later kidnapped for a couple of hours, calling her “German stock.” During the kidnapping, he told the woman he did not like “how America was bringing in non-Americans” and wanted to “make a statement because politics in America are messed up,” the complaint read.

Fussner had also been spewing white supremacist and antisemitic views for months before the shootout, according to the filing.

Just after midnight on July 4, Yellowstone’s 911 dispatch center received a report that a woman had been held against her will by a man with a gun in her dorm residence. She reported that Fussner threatened to kill her and others, including plans to allegedly carry out a mass shooting.

Fussner, of Milton, Florida, was confronted by Yellowstone law enforcement rangers early the next morning July 4 while allegedly shooting a semi-automatic rifle toward a dining facility at Canyon Village, according to NPS. Approximately 200 people were in the facility at the time, NPS said.

During an exchange of gunfire, Fussner was shot by law enforcement rangers and died at the scene, NPS said. A ranger was also shot in a lower extremity, the service noted.

Fussner was an employee of Xanterra Parks and Resorts, a private business authorized to operate in Yellowstone.