Man shot at Crater Lake arrested a year ago
Herald and News
Klamath Falls, Oregon
August 02, 2005
Combined wire, local reports
Police records indicate a California man shot dead by a ranger at Crater Lake National Park last week had been arrested a year ago for allegedly pulling a knife on security guards who confronted him for shoplifting.
Ronn Merl Ward, 38, of Sunnyvale, Calif., was shot twice Wednesday night after he rushed with a club at a ranger in the Mazama Campground, authorities have said.
The National Park Service has reopened the campsite where Ward was killed, but no new information on the shooting is expected for a few days.
Park spokesman Mac Brock said lab work from an autopsy done Friday in Medford is not expected until late this week or early next week.
The National Park Service and other law enforcement agencies are continuing an investigation to determine if the ranger was justified in using deadly force.
Police records in Sunnyvale show Ward was arrested May 12, 2004, at a neighbor’s house after brandishing a knife at security guards who confronted him for stealing merchandise at a grocery store. Guards notified police after noting Ward’s license plate.
In a letter to the editor of the Sun newspaper in Sunnyvale dated March 30, 2005, Ward criticized the city for failing to provide enough public defenders to give people like himself proper representation. In the letter, posted on the newspaper’s Web site, he wrote that he was convicted of robbery for taking some breath mints.
According to authorities and witnesses, Ward was yelling obscenities and banging around his campsite Wednesday night so that he could be heard through the trees at the evening campfire lecture in the campground, which was filled with 424 campers. A woman was in the trailer with him.
When two park rangers came to talk to him, he came out with his shirt off, but did not obey orders to raise his hands or stand still. He asked if the rangers wanted to die, then rushed at them with a wooden club. When a cloud of pepper spray did not stop him, one of the rangers shot him twice and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Brock said the shooting death is the first in memory at Crater Lake.
“There aren’t really any precedents for that,” park historian Steve Mark said of a ranger firing or even pulling a weapon on a visitor.
Mark said there was an incident about nine years ago when a person at a campfire program pointed a loaded crossbow at the park interpreter. When challenged by a park employee, the person put down the crossbow. The crossbow was confiscated, but no arrests were made.
Other pages in this section
- Writers on the Range: Panhandling in our national parks – November 21, 2005
- Anniversary: Altorfer – 50 years – November 20, 2005
- New parkway signs go up – October 21, 2005
- Latest park proposal still worries some – October 20, 2005
- Scientists gather to save pines – October 09, 2005
- Prescribed burns planned at Crater Lake – October 4, 2005
- Crater Lake pines in peril – October 01, 2005
- ‘Rockin’ in the Klamath Basin – September 26, 2005
- Park rangers cleared in camper’s shooting death – September 23, 2005
- Seismic monitoring stations wanted at Crater Lake – September 17, 2005
- Editorial: Don’t let parks become political battleground – September 15, 2005
- Proposal: Parks need an update – September 6, 2005
- Hike of the Week: enjoy solitude, panorama on top of Crater Peak – September 2, 2005
- Spending a night on Crater Lake’s Wizard Island – September 04, 2005
- Longtime Crater Lake ranger retires – September 02, 2005
- Basin residents honor Crater Lake – August 26, 2005
- Oregon Governor just another tourist – August 26, 2005
- Crater Lake bicycle ride: 100 years, 100 miles – August 25, 2005
- Kulongoski, Walden in town for Oregon quarter celebration – August 23, 2005
- Jack Batzer dies after a household accident – August 22, 2005
- Crater Lake plates boost park funds – August 20, 2005
- Teens rehabilitate trails near Crater Lake – August 18, 2005
- Rim runs, marathon an oxymoron – August 15, 2005
- Bricco wins despite pain – August 14, 2005
- Hawkes wins marathon – August 14, 2005
- Layne claims victory in first trip to Crater Lake Rim Runs – August 14, 2005
- Hill, Glidden remember ’84 race well – August 13, 2005
- Parking a concern at Rim Runs – August 11, 2005
- Crater Lake National Park has seven rangers with authority to carry guns – August 02, 2005
- Ranger details Crater Lake shooting – July 30, 2005
- Ranger shoots violent camper at Crater Lake – July 29, 2005
- Teachers wanted for outdoor science school workshop – July 26, 2005
- Construction Projects Update – June 30, 2005
- Make the most of Crater Lake quarter – June 02, 2005
- Mint strikes Oregon quarter – May 27, 2005
- Celebrations planned for state quarter –
- Construction projects beginning at Crater Lake – May 24, 2005
- Multiple construction projects Begin! – May 23, 2005
- Since you asked: It would take centuries to drink up Crater Lake – May 6, 2005
- Officials unveil plan of action for tourism – April 27, 2005
- Postcards from the camps – April 25, 2005
- Wintery classroom at Crater Lake National Park – April 25, 2005
- Festival blooms in Jacksonville – April 7, 2005
- Project to Rehabilitate Rim Village Begins! – April 01, 2005
- Courses set on Karuks, bats, Crater Lake biology – March 21, 2005
- Education Afoot: a local teacher takes the lesson out of doors – February 7, 2005
- Streamflow signs buried in the snow – February 1, 2005
- How Rogue forest began – January 30, 2005
- Winter fun at Crater Lake – January 6, 2005
- Crater Lake ski races set for this weekend – February 02, 2005