Suspect in Yosemite Ranger Shooting Held : Crime: Man was also sought in a Nevada murder. Authorities say they have not linked him to the wounding of the park official.

By KENNETH REICH and MARIA L. La GANGA

July 19, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK —

A suspect in Wednesday’s shooting of a ranger here was arrested Sunday without resistance by the Nevada Highway Patrol near the town of Fallon, authorities said.

James Steven Robinson, 39, also wanted in the fatal shooting the same day of his ex-wife’s boyfriend in Gardnerville, Nev., was found in a disabled stolen car on U.S. 95 south of Fallon, about 120 miles from where Ranger Kim Aufhauser, 37, was shot.

Nevada Highway Patrol Sgt. Tom Hammill said Robinson had a gun in the car but did not know if it was similar to the .22-caliber weapon, or weapons, believed used in the Gardnerville and Yosemite shootings.

Yosemite and Nevada officials were extremely reserved in their evaluations of how strong a suspect Robinson is in the ranger’s shooting.

Yosemite spokeswoman Kris Fister said Robinson was one of three men being sought. “We have nothing conclusive that can link him specifically to our case. Our investigators are going to follow up so we can either cross him off or find more conclusive links.”

The wounding of Aufhauser, who was hit in the leg but spared more serious injury when two of the three shots struck a bulletproof vest, caused an unprecedented evacuation of more than 1,000 visitors from Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows and the closing of California 120, the Tioga Pass Road.

During the two-day closure, 180 law enforcement officers searched for the suspect in the Yosemite high country without result.

Nevada authorities also said they had doubts whether Robinson, being held in the Churchill County Jail in Fallon, had been involved in the Yosemite shooting.

The man who shot the ranger was on foot when the crime occurred about four miles east of Tuolumne Meadows.

But Robinson allegedly drove one car from the murder scene before stealing another vehicle, in which he was arrested at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

Reich reported from Los Angeles and La Ganga from Yosemite National Park.

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Maria L. La Ganga

Maria L. La Ganga is the deputy managing editor for California and Metro, overseeing the Los Angeles Times’ largest editorial department. She joined The Times in 1981 as an academic intern, splitting her time between the former Metro section and National Dragster, the official publication of the National Hot Rod Assn. She has served as Seattle bureau chief, San Francisco bureau chief, edited in the Business section and pitched in on six presidential elections, five for The Times and one for the Guardian. La Ganga left The Times in 2015 and returned in 2018 after a brief hiatus during which she wrote for the Guardian and the Idaho Statesman. She was named city editor in 2022 and promoted to her current role in 2024. La Ganga graduated from Granada Hills High School in the San Fernando Valley and Cal State Northridge, where she studied English literature and journalism.

Suspect in Yosemite Ranger Shooting Held : Crime: Man was also sought in a Nevada murder. Authorities say they have not linked him to the wounding of the park official.

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