Whether it's a City Park like Pioneer or National Park
like Yellowstone,
many turn to the great outdoors to get away from
the stresses of life.
And that's what makes what happened on Wednesday and Thursday
at Canyon Village that much more disturbing.
It happened at a place long known as a sanctuary
from violence.
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is a very popular
natural attraction,
the lower falls and all.
So yeah, it's going to be a busy place.
Yellowstone may be a busy place,
but the park is better known for the solitude it
offers.
An escape from life's stresses.
It's a bit of a surprise and a shock for
something like this to happen in a place like Yellowstone.
Tuesday, park officials say an armed individual fired at Park
Rangers after allegedly making several threats that quickly led to
a shootout in Canyon Village,
one of the busiest areas of the park.
One of those amazing Rangers was injured.
And you, I mean it,
it hurts when you hear that.
And I don't know the individuals who are involved,
but it very much hurts.
Rick Honinghausen is the marketing director for Zantara,
the largest concessionaire at Yellowstone.
Zantara operates the hotels, restaurants and gift stores.
And is also the park's largest employer.
He estimates there are likely hundreds of people in the
Canyon Village area when the shootout occurred,
including dozens of seasonal employees.
This is a family as much as anything else.
Whether your Park Service, whether you're a different concession or
whether you're us,
you cannot work here for a few days even without
starting to feel connections.
Counseling services were provided to those employees Friday,
but many now are already back at work.
Honinghausen is just thankful that no one else was injured
and credits the National Park Service response.
Unending thanks and very impressed by how these these people
responded.
And Honinghausen says the 3000 park employees all feel for
the injured Ranger.
Maybe at the same time,
this place will also help provide some healing for those
who were impacted by this.
And our people find relief here.
They find comfort here. They find a way to recover
from things here in Billings.
David JMTN News.