The death of Margaret Anderson is both a shock and a tragedy.

Anderson, a U.S. Park Ranger at Mt. Rainier National Park, was gunned down Sunday after she had set a roadblock to stop a car being pursued after failing to stop at a chain-up checkpoint. She died doing a job co-workers say she loved.

The driver of the car, Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, fled the scene, but not before also firing on a cruiser being driven by Ranger Dan Camiccia, who was in pursuit of Barnes. Barnes was chased  by hundreds of law-enforcement officers and died of exposure from the weather.

Like the National Park Service, we are stunned by the news. While Rangers juggle a host of duties in our national parks, they are mostly thought of as being there to help visitors and help search for lost and injured hikers. We forget that they also are the front-line of law enforcement in our parks.

Only eight other rangers have been killed in the line of duty at our national parks. Anderson’s was the first such death at Mt. Rainier. Park Rangers are said to be taking the loss personally. We, too, grieve the senseless loss of a dedicated public servant.

– Craig Groshart, Bellevue Reporter