The man authorities believe was responsible for the New Year's Day shooting death of a national park ranger in Washington state was a former soldier who owned many knives and guns despite an emotionally unstable, vindictive and anger-prone mind-set, the mother of his toddler daughter said in court documents.
While investigators said Monday they had little insight into Barnes' mind-set or motivations, the woman with whom he was in a custody dispute over their young daughter said in court documents filed last year that she was frightened to be in the same state with him.
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The weapons are harmful and I don't know if he will try to use them against myself or my family," the woman wrote in a filing for a temporary restraining order filed with the Pierce County Superior Court on May 24.
Before the shooting at the national park, Barnes was wanted in connection with a shooting Sunday in the Seattle suburb of Skyway that left four people wounded.
A woman who said she had spurned Barnes' romantic advances said he visited her on Sunday morning.
She thought Barnes was a nice guy when they first met, but that he "
seemed sketchy" after she got to know him better. That he turned to violence in his final days wasn't shocking to her. "
It doesn't surprise me, honestly. He is a loose cannon. If he doesn't get his way or something makes him upset, he goes all the way out of control".
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/03/justice/washington-ranger-killed/?hpt=us_c2