Valley of Fire shooting: Ranger not wearing body camera
The park ranger who fatally shot a person at Valley of Fire State Park on Wednesday was not wearing a body camera, according to a Nevada State Parks spokesman.
Nevada law doesn’t require state park rangers to wear body cameras.
Authorities have not specified the area of the park in which the shooting occurred. Whether any footage of the shooting exists is unclear.
A Wednesday news release from Nevada State Parks said the unidentified park ranger fired their weapon while responding to a call. According to the news release, only one person was struck in the shooting. The news release said that the park ranger was not injured and that the person shot was declared dead at the scene.
Parks spokesman Tyler Kerver said on Thursday that the shooting was the first fatal shooting involving a park ranger in the history of the agency.
Details about the circumstances surrounding the shooting were not released. The Nevada Highway Patrol was investigating the shooting, Kerver said. When, or if, the park ranger would be identified was unclear.
The park closed Wednesday after the shooting and remained closed all day on Thursday.
Those with camping reservations were still able to access the park, but they weren’t permitted to step out of the campground, according to Nevada State Parks’ Facebook account and orange signs posted at the park.
Kelli Martinez and her four daughters tried to enter the park’s western entrance Thursday afternoon. The Northern California residents were turned away by the signs and a park ranger sitting in a white pickup.
“We had no idea it was closed,” Martinez said.
The family was on its way to Zion National Park when it decided to stop at Valley of Fire, Martinez said.
David Wu and a friend also tried to enter the park on Thursday afternoon.
The pair were in the Las Vegas area because they watched USA Basketball defeat Canada in an exhibition game at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday night, said Wu, who is from Phoenix.
Zu said he was disappointed that he wouldn’t get to see the park because it looked really pretty on Google.
The park ranger in the pickup said he expected the park to be open on Friday.
Contact Peter Breen at pbreen@reviewjournal.com. Follow @breenreports on X.