DENVER (AP) — A heavily armed man killed himself rather than carry out an apparent plan to shoot up a mountaintop amusement park in Colorado, authorities said Monday.
The 20-year-old man was found dead in a women's bathroom by a maintenance crew at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park on Saturday morning, before it opened to the public.
He apparently entered the park while it was closed, armed with an AR-style rifle, a semi-automatic handgun and explosives and was wearing body armor and tactical clothing, similar to what a police SWAT team member might wear, authorities said.
A message saying, “I am not a killer, I just want to get into the caves,” was written on a wall of the bathroom where the man was found lying on the floor, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said. Nearby was a handgun and explosive devices, some real and some fake, he said. The AR-style rifle was on a counter nearby along with a duty belt holding several ammunition magazines.
Vallario could not say for certain that the man left the message.
There were no prior indications, either at home or school, suggesting the man was planning an attack, Vallario said. But he noted that investigators have not conducted any in-depth interviews yet. The FBI will help review the man's phone records and social media postings as part of the investigation, he said.
“Given the preparation, given the amount of weapons and ordinance he had it almost seemed very highly likely he intended to use those against the community. He chose not to,” Vallario said.
Multiple improvised explosive devices were found in the man’s vehicle, police had said. Authorities searched the rest of the park for other explosives but suggested no others were found.
The park would likely be crowded on a fall weekend during hunting season when people go to the mountains to see the changing autumn colors, Vallario said. And given the park’s isolated location, which visitors take a gondola to normally, it would have been difficult to get any wounded to the hospital, he said.
The man, whose name has not been released, was from the nearby town of Carbondale, where he lived with his mother and brother, Vallario said. A search of his room by law enforcement found nothing to indicate explosives and he had no known criminal history or prior encounters with police, the sheriff said.
The weapons found on the man were ghost guns, which do not have serial numbers and therefore cannot be traced. The man’s clothing had patches and emblems that gave the appearance of him being associated with law enforcement.
Some of the suspected explosives turned out to be fakes -- including several that looked like hand grenades — but others were real, the sheriff said. However, there was no evidence to suggest that explosive devices had been placed elsewhere inside the park, he said.
Investigators believe the man drove up to the park on a service road.
The park, which is surrounded by state-owned public land, is on a mountain above the Colorado River in western Colorado. Its attractions include cave tours, an alpine coaster and a pendulum swing ride perched on the edge of a cliff that sends riders over the river canyon.
No employees or visitors were on scene when the man entered the park, according to a statement issued Monday by Glenwood Caverns. The man's body was found outside of restricted areas where rides are located, according to the park.
“This very sad and tragic incident reminds us how much our Glenwood Springs community means to us,” Glenwood Caverns General Manager Nancy Heard said in the statement.
___
Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
