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Moab • Law enforcement agencies said Saturday night they believe the man they are searching for in the shooting of state park ranger Brody Young is wounded and armed.
The pursuit was delayed for the night while officers held a perimeter and hoped for better luck Sunday.
"Today, we didn't get a whole lot accomplished," Grand County Sheriff James Nyland said Saturday night. "We ran out of daylight."
He said he was hoping for more success in searching the area before it got dark but believes authorities will find the man when the search begins again Sunday morning.
"We know he is armed and has already shot an officer," Nyland said. "We want to be careful at this point, because he has nothing else to lose, and we don't want to get anyone else hurt."
Young was critically injured in the shootout at about 8:40 p.m. Friday, shortly after he pulled over a vehicle in the parking lot of the Poison Spider Trailhead, just south of Moab.
Young's stepmother said the ranger has always loved the outdoors. Micheline Young said in an interview Saturday night that her step-son has always enjoyed doing his work and living in the Moab area and she doesn't understand what would cause someone to shoot at him.
"I feel really bad because Brody spends a lot hours especially during the summer safeguarding the people [of Moab]," Micheline said. "And on a couple occasions has even helped recover [dead] bodies from the river. I mean he really is a hero and he did not deserve this. It made us feel bad that anyone would have to feel like they have to do this to someone."
She said her husband, along with other family members, traveled to Colorado to be with her son after hearing from Brody's sister that he had been shot. She said the whole family was in shock because they didn't expect an incident like this to happen in a tourist town in Utah.
"We were all in shock, even though he is in law enforcement," said Micheline Young, who lives in Arizona. "We visit Moab and you think of campers and tourists. This is not somebody that got mad and shot at him, he really came after him. It was just really shocking to us."
On Saturday, authorities tracked the shooter along the Colorado River bottoms, about 22 miles southwest of Moab and east of Dead Horse State Park. During the search, officers found multiple items that were believed to belong to the man.
A .22-caliber rifle was recovered along with a backpack and a piece of a blood-soaked T-shirt. Nyland said they believe the shirt was used as a tourniquet. The backpack contained a small amount of clothing, canned goods and an empty gun holster believed to hold a .40-caliber handgun.
Although the condition of the shooter was not known, officers still believe he is a threat to law enforcement officers.
"We are treating this suspect as armed and dangerous," Nyland said, adding that he believes the shooter may have the .40-caliber handgun still on him.
Police did not immediately release the identity of the man because they were not sure if the registered owner of the car found by authorities is the shooter. The registered owner is from the Salt Lake City area.
"We don't really know what caused the shooting," Nyland said. He also mentioned the car's owner doesn't have much of an unlawful history, but he does have a criminal record and outstanding warrants.
"We have reason to believe the suspect is wounded," Nyland said. "He has had very little food or water and with the injuries we think he may have, it is a concern that he will hide to make it more difficult to find him."
Initially, around 30 officers were searching a 20-square-mile area, by foot with bloodhounds and by helicopters for much of the afternoon. By nightfall, the perimeter was narrowed substantially.
Saturday night, officers stepped back the manpower to 20 officers who were staking out a four-square-mile perimeter and waiting until daybreak to actively pursue the shooter again.
"We are just positioning people tonight in different places where we think [the shooter] may be," Nyland said.
Of the ranger's wounding, Nyland said Young was doing a routine traffic stop, talked to the driver and, for unknown reasons, a gunfight erupted.
About 10 p.m. Friday, a Utah Highway Patrol helicopter spotted the vehicle Young stopped, a silver Pontiac Grand Am, abandoned on Potash Road about 15 miles southwest of Moab, just west of the meandering Colorado River.
Young — who has a wife, Wendy, and three children, all under the age of 5 — was shot in the leg, arm and torso, but was able to report via radio that he had been shot.
State Parks spokeswoman Deena Loyola said Young, 34, of Moab, was in critical but stable condition Saturday after several hours of surgery overnight at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo.
Nyland said Young underwent numerous surgeries for the gunshot wounds. Doctors are hopeful he will recover. Police still had not had an opportunity to speak with the injured officer.
"He is a very good individual," Nyland said, adding that Young is sociable and the kind of person who wouldn't do anything to agitate a situation. "He is the kind that could talk his way out of it."
Young has been a park ranger in Moab for about five years, Nyland said.
After the shooting, Nyland quickly enlisted the aid of neighboring sheriffs' offices and the FBI to launch the manhunt. SWAT units from Emery, Carbon and Kane counties, along with the state Department of Public Safety's Special Emergency Response Team, were on the scene Saturday, as well as crime-scene technicians from Weber County.
The search for the shooter began in earnest at sunrise Saturday, Nyland said, with SWAT teams tracking the man through the canyon lands and into the river bottoms while a state helicopter searched from above. Sharpshooters were stationed on ridges to keep watch.
During the day, Utah State Parks rangers ran boats along the Colorado River to aid in the search.
The shooting scene was processed and investigated by Saturday evening. But the recovered vehicle won't be investigated until Sunday morning. Officers believe the man may have been planning to camp out in the area near Dead Horse Point State Park.
"Weather is another factor," Nyland said. "We are really worried about the weather. If the weather moves in, that is going to be another thing that is against us."
Officers said there is no indication the man they're looking for has gone into the Colorado River. Nyland said there is a ranch down in the area near the river where the shooting occurred. He said some canoes at a dock by the ranch are all still there, so they don't believe the shooter went down the river.
Night vision and bloodhounds were used during evening hours.
The area where officers are searching is considered very rugged terrain. Nyland said there are a lot of caves and redrock boulders where they believe the shooter may be hiding. Near the Colorado River, there are also sheer cliffs and steep terrain, which makes the search difficult for officers.
"If he happens to get in a small cave or a hole in the hill, it would be impossible for us to find him, and we want to find him, and we want to bring this to conclusion," Nyland said.
Officers believe the man's wounds to be fairly serious and he has been bleeding now for at least a day. They also think he may be moving to higher ground. Sunday morning, officers plan to search the area even more thoroughly with bloodhounds in caves and gullies in the vast redrock area.