Delia D'Ambra

So he made his way down the trail and emerged onto Highway 101.

To his absolute terror though, he could see from a distance that he and Danny's attacker had returned to the campground parking lot where Danny's truck was.

Jack managed to stay out of sight until the suspect drove off, and then he flagged down a truck driver who was passing by.

Once he was safe with the Good Samaritan, Jack explained what had happened, and the motorist quickly dialed 911 on his cell phone.

Then the pair drove to a fire station in the nearby city of Cannon Beach, Oregon.

There, Jack was able to report the shooting to local authorities.

After that, a helicopter flew the injured Ranger to a hospital in Portland, and investigators from various agencies, including the Oregon State Police, converged on the trail where Jack said Danny was.

Officers eventually found the fallen Park Ranger and cordoned off the trail as a crime scene.

Meanwhile, the manhunt for the suspect was unfolding and time was of the essence.

Jack had provided the police with detailed information about Danny's truck.

And sure enough, about an hour after the shootings, a local seaside police sergeant located Danny's vehicle speeding down a highway headed in the direction of Portland.

Authority's aim was to intercept the shooter before he could make it to a more densely populated area.

So they set up a roadblock near the community of Olney, Oregon, and eventually forced the suspect to drive into a rock pit where he got out and tried unsuccessfully to escape on foot.

Not long after he was captured, he was quickly identified as 52-year-old Larry Jean Cole, a convicted federal felon with a history of violent crimes who was on parole.

In the aftermath of the murder, the public and the press had a lot of questions for law enforcement.

Who was Larry Cole?

How could this have happened?

And could it have been prevented?

Oregon State Park Rangers didn't carry firearms with them while on duty, and they didn't have law enforcement authority.

That responsibility was handled by the Oregon State Police and other agencies.