Rising Tide of Violence

Employee violence by year and agencyA Slice of Life in Public Service
A National Park Service ranger at Organ Pipe Cactus Monument in Arizona was run over by a moving vehicle driven by an anti-government land owner who had claimed ownership of federal land.

Ranchers in Reserve, New Mexico, threatened to kill U.S. Forest Service employees for trying to enforce grazing restrictions intended to protect endangered species.

An EPA employee in the Ozarks region of Missouri was beaten, bound with tape and abandoned in her vandalized vehicle by suspected pro-mining activists.

A federal mine inspector and his wife were seriously injured when a car bomb exploded while they were driving on a major interstate in California. The explosion occurred hours after a phone death threat to workers in the inspector’s office.

A Forest Service ranger in Arizona was harassed, threatened, forcibly thrown out of a public meeting, and then beaten by several attendees. The meeting was sponsored by the local cattle association and featured a prominent "wise use" attorney who spoke about "state’s rights."

An anonymous telephone caller warned a refuge manager in California that he had offered a $15,000 contract to kill the manager.

A bomb placed on the windowsill of a Forest Service office in New Mexico exploded, causing $25,000 in damages.

A bomb detonated outside the home of a Forest Service district ranger in Carson City, Nevada, destroying the family van, which was parked in the driveway, and blowing out the front windows of his home. The office of that district ranger had previously been firebombed.