Feds Say July 4 Yellowstone Shooter Ranted About Non-Whites And “Race-Traitors”

A Yellowstone National Park concession worker who was killed in a July 4 shootout with park rangers ranted about hating having to “fraternize with race-traitors that support non-whites or jews” and that he would “go postal here” if he couldn’t find a new job, court documents say.

The revelations of Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner’s militant white supremacist leanings were made in a Friday civil petition the federal government filed to get ownership of Fussner’s used 2021 Nissan Rogue and several guns used during an attempt at a mass killing the feds call an act of terrorism.

U.S. Assistant Attorney Jeremy Gross, of the Wyoming office, makes those and other claims in the filing about Fussner’s terroristic plot when he took a hostage and shot a Yellowstone National Park ranger in the foot on July 3-4 in the park’s Canyon Village.

Federal law enforcement agents have the car and guns now, but don’t officially own them. Gross’s petition asks the U.S. District Court for Wyoming to issue notice to anyone with an interest in these items to debate their fate in court.

Typically, guns involved in crimes are destroyed once the U.S. government comes to own them, and cars are often sold, Wyoming U.S. Attorney Eric Heimann told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.

Money from a car sale would go into a federal forfeiture fund, which supports law enforcement programs and is sometimes used to pay “general treasury obligations,” Heimann added.

Harrowing Account

In asking for the car and guns, Gross outlined the most raw and detailed account of Fussner’s attack to date.

Fussner vented white supremacist and antisemitic views in the months leading up to the attack on the forum Vanguard News Network, the petition says.

He was “on the precipice of a breakdown,” he wrote in a March 16, 2024, post. He described his depression, loneliness and mental anguish, and said he wished for a white nation. He lamented his inability to connect with others, the petition says.

“Fussner stated he despises Christians, elaborating that he ‘refuse(s) to fraternize with race-traitors that support non-whites or jews,’” says the narrative. “This year may well be my last. I do not believe in suicide, but I do believe in a last stand.”

He was trying to get a seasonal job in a “nice white mountainous area or state park” and expose himself to different “white people.” If he couldn’t do that, “look forward to seeing me in the news,” the petition relates.

Working as a Xanterra concessions employee, Fussner was not surrounded by white people.

He texted his brother July 1 that he was “upset” in Yellowstone and needed to find another job or he’d “go postal here,” says the narrative.

“I can’t do it anymore,” Fussner told his brother, according to the petition. “I think 4th of July would be a good time. Lots of crowds and they’d think it was fireworks.”

On July 2, Fussner texted his brother again to complain that Yellowstone was becoming “80% J1s (migrants). 50% chink/30% spic,” the petition says, adding that he wrote, “Whites seem to have disappeared … Very odd hellscape im in (sic).”

Fussner texted about a woman he worked with, said he was obsessed with her, and that she was “German stock,” the narrative says.

“Continuing to live would be meaningless,” Fussner texted his brother July 3, according to the narrative.

“I would just continue to suffer and feel nothingness even if I could gain everything, I could logically think I wanted,” he continued. “Dead is a good thing. It is a release. Ive (sic) lived much longer than I should have already … But I want a good dearh (sic). One that was fun and had some kind of meaning.”

With A Pistol

At 10 p.m. July 3, Fussner entered the dorm room of the woman he liked and took her hostage, Gross wrote.

He knocked, then barged in when she opened the door. He pulled a knife out, put it away and pulled out a handgun, which he never pointed at her, but clutched throughout the night. He held her hostage for about two hours, the narrative says.

He “ranted about his mental health issues, his racist ideations, and his plans to carry out a mass shooting at the employee dining room in Canyon Lodge and the fireworks display at West Yellowstone, Montana,” the petition continues.

Fussner told the woman he wanted to kill himself 10 years prior but couldn’t pull the trigger. But he wanted to “do something major” and make a statement about American politics; and that he didn’t like how America was bringing in non-Americans and changing the culture, says the narrative.

“He indicated he thought all blacks were evil and reported hating Jews,” Gross wrote.

The narrative says Fussner told the woman about his last-minute plan to shoot up the Canyon employee dining room.

Just before midnight, the woman’s roommate came home. Fussner hid the gun under his arm. The roommate went to shower and Fussner left, telling the woman that if the cops came to find him, he’d have to come back to her room with “something more powerful that doors won’t stop,” the petition says.

Getaway Car

Once Fussner was gone, the woman called Xanterra security, warning about the mass shooting threat and describing her two hours of captivity. A security officer called National Park Service dispatch and reported the incident.

Park rangers spent the early morning hours of July 4 searching for Fussner.

At 1:18 a.m., Fussner “started frantically texting his brother again,” saying he’d done something dumb” but didn’t want to do time in prison or be a felon because of it, reportedly.

“I should have waited until July 4th and just done a crowd but something compelled me otherwise,” Fussner texted, according to the petition. “I faltered in the plan of full hostage doh! ... You aren’t gonna be happy when you wake up lol but maybe I can do something funny.”

Xanterra security personnel found Fussner’s 2021 Nissan Rogue in the Canyon parking lot, unoccupied and backed into a parking space on one side of the Canyon Lodge. It looked poised for “a quick getaway,” wrote Gross.

Rangers saw a Ruger .380-caliber pistol in plain view on the center console.

When they opened the unlocked door and searched the car, they found the gun was loaded with a round in the chamber, the narrative says. They also found a loaded 9 mm magazine for a Glock-type handgun, rifle magazines and multiple high-capacity Glock-style handgun magazines. They found an individual first-aid kit behind the driver’s seat, and a 12-gauge shotgun in a guitar case, the petition says.

Out With A Rifle

At 8:05 a.m., Fussner exited the woods east of Canyon Lodge, northeast of the Grizzly Dorm. A park ranger the petition calls “Ranger 1” saw Fussner carrying an AR-15 type rifle with his left hand on the foregrip and right hand on the pistol grip, Gross wrote.

Ranger 1 yelled for Fussner to stop.

Fussner turned and shot at the ranger, who took cover behind a tree, says the narrative.

The petition says Fussner went toward the employee dining room through the loading dock area. Two more rangers, called Rangers 2 and 3, were stationed in the lodge.

Ranger 2 exchanged gunfire. Fussner shot Ranger 2 in the right foot, causing a severe foot injury that required Ranger 2 to undergo multiple surgeries, eventually losing multiple toes, Gross wrote.

Then Fussner exchanged gunfire with Ranger 3, the petition says.

Ranger 1 rushed to the loading dock area and encountered Fussner. Ranger 1 shot at Fussner, who ran toward Ranger 1, says the document.

“Ranger 1 continued to fire until Fussner was neutralized and lying on the ground,” added Gross.

A physician later pronounced Fussner dead. On his person, agents found a Glock 9 mm pistol and “assorted ammunition and magazines,” the petition says.

Why We Want These

Gross wrote that the federal government wants to own the car and guns because they were “part of a plot to commit mass violence” and a federal crime of terrorism.

The law authorizes the federal government to seize possessions of an individual plotting or committing a federal act of terrorism, says the petition.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.