by Patrick H. Moore
According to San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore, James DiMaggio fired at least one shot from “a shoulder weapon” when confronted by two highly specialized FBI hostage teams in a shootout at his encampment at a remote, alpine lake in Idaho:
“The first rule is to try to rescue the hostage here and hopefully take the subject alive. That did not happen in this case.”
Gore further stated that Hannah Anderson was unaware that her mother and brother were dead until she was rescued.
“It was clear from the information that we received that she was under extreme duress,” said Gore, speaking to KSWB-TV, the Fox affiliate in San Diego. “She was taken out of the county, out of the state, clearly against her will.”
Todd Dvorak and Elliot Spagat of the Associated Press reported further:
Hannah’s father, Brett Anderson, reunited with his daughter Sunday at an undisclosed hospital in Boise, where she was flown hours after her rescue from a camp near an alpine lake. Hannah also rejoined her gray cat, which she had with her in the wilderness.
Hannah’s father was scheduled to speak Monday at a news conference in San Diego with Gore and the head of the FBI’s San Diego office. Jan Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, declined to answer questions about the rescue or investigation.
More information was also disclosed about why Mark John, the retired Gem County sheriff, was sufficiently suspicious to go to the authorities after encountering DiMaggio and Hannah on a wilderness trail in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness and subsequently learning that DiMaggio was the subject of an Amber Alert:
“They just didn’t fit. He might have been an outdoorsman in California, but he was not an outdoorsman in Idaho. … Red flags kind of went up.”
John was puzzled by DiMaggio and Hannah’s lack of openness and reluctance to engage in conversation like most hikers and backpackers he has encountered in the wilderness during horseback excursions.
Plus their gear was insufficient for survival in the rugged terrain.
When John and his wife returned home and saw the girl’s photographs on the news, that they put two-and-two together and notified police.
Click here to view the rest of the Associated Press story:
Click on the links below to view our previous posts on this case:
Hannah Anderson Rescued: SWAT Team Kills Kidnapper James DiMaggio in Idaho Wilderness
Amber Alert: Abducted Teenage Girl Hannah Anderson Sighted with Kidnapper in Idaho Wilderness