Anchorage Daily News

Visitors at a Denali National Park and Preserve visitor center had a close wildlife encounter Thursday morning when a man began screaming and threatening to kill people, according to charges filed in federal court.

Park rangers said Mauricio Chiessi, 46, began his outburst on a tour bus and continued at the Wilderness Access Center after he was kicked off the vehicle.

The disruption began at about 8 a.m., when a disheveled Chiessi, wearing a ripped shirt and with dirt in his hair, began threatening passengers aboard a Joint Ventures bus, apparently without provocation, charges say.

He told his mother, who was apparently on the bus, he "would execute those who said things about him," according to a ranger's affidavit filed in federal court.

Chiessi was removed from the bus at the wilderness center, where park rangers found him.

An officer asked him what the problem was and Chiessi replied with incoherent screaming, the charges say. As the ranger tried to calm him down, Chiessi said he wanted to die and that the ranger would have to kill him because he could not do it himself -- it was not "God's way," according to the documents.

When his mother tried to calm him down, Chiessi began screaming, saying she needed to die and that he would kill her, the charges say.

He also tried to fight the officers as they arrested him, saying they would have to shoot him, according to the charges.

Chiessi was arrested on a federal charge of engaging in threatening behavior and using obscene language in a public area. He was being held at the Fairbanks Correctional Center.

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

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