Phoenix Bird

MANHUNT

(all italics are mine)

MSNBC - Desert Manhunt Seeks 3 "Survivalists"

Desert manhunt seeks 3 survivalists" Death of Utah deputy may be linked to Colorado fugitives

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BLUFF, Utah, June 4 - A Utah lawman was shot and wounded Thursday in the area where more than 200 state, federal and local officers sought three men whose shooting rampage last week left a Colorado policeman dead and two wounded. Officials told NBC News that 300 residents in the town of Bluff were being evacuated.

DETAILS WERE SKETCHY, but Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Verdi White confirmed an officer had been shot south of this southeastern Utah desert community near the Four Corners area. The sheriff's office has requested the Utah Highway Patrol send troopers that direction and we have. They have also asked for a SWAT team, which will be flown down there," White said.

Since last Friday, more than 200 officers from four states, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have combed the desert border of Utah and Colorado, looking for the three men. Asked if the three fugitives were suspected in Thursday's shooting, White said, "That's the question. But we're concerned."

The Utah shooting occurred as searchers looked for clues to the whereabouts of the three fugitive survivalists from Colorado. An operator at the Blanding Medical Center, the nearest hospital, would not confirm whether the victim had been admitted. She said law enforcement authorities asked that no information regarding patients be released.

COLORADO MANHUNT

On Tuesday, Colorado Gov. Roy Romer declared a state of emergency in southwestern Colorado, retroactively providing for 25 Colorado National Guard troops and four guard helicopters already involved in the search.

Named in warrants for last Friday's slaying of Cortez, Colo., police officer Dale Claxton are Alan "Monte" Pilon, 30, Dove Creek, and Robert Matthew Mason and Jason Wayne McVean, both 26-year-old Durango residents.

Police on Wednesday said they found three pipe bombs in Pilon's camper trailer and two more bombs in Mason's pickup truck, which was parked next to the camper near Durango. The pipe bombs, described as 8 to 12 inches long and 3 inches in diameter, were detonated by a bomb squad.

Also Wednesday, more than 2,000 people, including Romer, attended Claxton's funeral services at the Cortez High School football stadium. Claxton was killed as camouflage-clad gunmen raked his patrol car with automatic rifle fire after he stopped a stolen water truck in Cortez.

Two Montezuma County sheriff's deputies were wounded and six other patrol cars struck by bullets in the chase and gun battle that followed. The gunmen commandeered a second truck, then abandoned it and fled on foot into the arid canyonlands about five miles north of Hovenweep National Monument.

Despite the massive manhunt, searchers on Wednesday had found only two sets of footprints in the search area.

'SURVIVALIST' FUGITIVES

Michael Yowell of the Colorado National Guard said he was told by Utah State Patrol troopers that Thursday's shooting occurred somewhere in the vicinity of Utah Highway 191 early in the afternoon.

Asked if it was related to the search for the fugitives, Yowell said, " As sick as it sounds, I hope so because those are the guys that we need."

Yowell said three Blackhawk helicopters were in the air in addition to two Hueys and an observation chopper. Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane vowed again Wednesday to continue an all-out search effort "until we find them....They went in there and there's no indication anywhere that they came out. They're hunkered down in there somewhere, waiting for us to give up so they can walk out," Lane said.

Lane said bomb-making directions from the Anarchist's Cookbook were found in Pilon's room at his parents' Dove Creek home.

However, investigators have not linked any of the men to known militia groups.

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MSNBC - Police Extend Search For Survivalists

(Photo Caption) Police extend search for survivalists. 500 officers looking for 2 men suspected of killing lawman. Police officers use extreme caution while checking the back of a pickup truck in northeastern Arizona Thursday. Authorities from four states are participating in the manhunt for two survivalist fugitives.

MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS BLUFF, Utah, June 6

The manhunt in rugged canyon country for two fugitives suspected of killing a lawman and wounding three others was extended toward the west and east Saturday.

Governor Roy Romer says he is concerned about militia in Colorado - FBI Homepage

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Police suspect the fugitives may have doubled back toward Colorado.

SEARCH TEAMS hunting the two survivalists were moving slowly toward Lake Powell to the west and eastward back toward Colorado, San Juan County Sheriff Mike Lacy said at a news conference. He said a theory that the fugitives may have doubled back toward Colorado was based on "tips and some other things."

On Friday, authorities had said the fugitives might have eluded them again in the canyons near the spot where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet. A third fugitive was found dead earlier in the week.

Residents of the small community of Bluff were allowed to return home late Friday night. The town was evacuated Thursday as some 500 law enforcement officers converged on the site where sheriff's Deputy Kelly Bradford was wounded. They outnumbered the town's residents 3 to 2.

Bradford had been shot twice after responding to a report from a social worker who said he had been fired upon. Within hours the body of Robert Matthew Mason, 26, of Durango, Colo., was found at a campsite along the river, about five miles east of Bluff near where Bradford was shot.

Mason was one of three men wanted in the killing of a Cortez, Colo., police officer last week. The two other men believed to be involved in the shooting are the subjects of the manhunt.

Lacy said Mason, dressed in camouflage clothes, helmet and backpack, with a rifle, handgun and three pipe bombs nearby, appeared to have shot himself between the eyes. The body was sent to the state medical examiner's office.

Mason's brother, Gary Charles Mason, told police his brother had a stockpile of weapons and "a lengthy background in anti-government feelings and anti-law enforcement statements."

The camp near the fallen fugitive appeared to have been there a couple of days, and Lacy acknowledged the two remaining suspects from Colorado, Alan "Monte" Pilon, 30, of Dove Creek, and Jason Wayne McVean, 26, of Durango may have left the area days ago.

"These are demented minds, in my opinion," Colorado Gov. Roy Romer said from the scene early Friday. "They had in mind either one or more series of operations. This is typical of a paramilitary operation."

Officers initially focused their search on an area just north of Bluff, but expanded it Friday and closed the San Juan River after reports that town residents had seen men in camouflage loading supplies into a boat.

"There's indication there might be a boat so we're following up on the south end to make sure of that. We're going all the way to Lake Powell," a popular tourist destination some 50 miles down river, Lacy said.

As hundreds of officers combed the half-mile-wide river canyon, helicopters buzzed overhead and downstream, sheriff's pontoon boats scoured the river and a SWAT team took up riverside positions 17 miles southwest at Mexican Hat.

An air search of the entire river turned up nothing. "We are frustrated," Lacy said. "We would like to catch these people and put this thing to an end."

The tense search in the ruggedly scenic Four Corners area began May 29 in Cortez, 53 miles northeast of Bluff, when camouflaged gunmen raked police officer Dale Claxton's patrol car with automatic rifle fire after he stopped their stolen water truck.

Two Montezuma County sheriff's deputies were wounded and six other patrol cars were struck by bullets in the chase and gun battle that ensued. The gunmen fled on foot into the arid canyons. "I hope they get those guys," resident Vaughn Hadenfeldt said. "But I think it's obvious from the past week that they could hide out for some time. There's nooks and crannies you could hide out forever in and nobody would ever find it."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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