Authorities search Yellowstone Park for fugitives

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming (CNN) -- Rangers and other law enforcement officials searched Yellowstone National Park on Friday, looking for two armed fugitives wanted in Minnesota.

At 2 p.m. MDT (4 p.m. EDT), authorities at the park surrounded a pickup truck thought to contain the fugitives and an unidentified woman. SWAT team members threw a flash-bang canister at the truck only to discover it was empty, according to John Ellickson, deputy director for public safety for New Brighton, Minnesota, where the two suspects are wanted.

Ellickson said the two men -- Patrick Engelbrecht, 18, and Thomas O'Flanagan, 19 -- stole the truck in New Brighton on August 5 after forcing their way into a house and deceiving, robbing and severely beating an elderly couple.

A park ranger spotted the pickup truck early Friday in an area where camping is not allowed, park spokeswoman Marsha Karle said. By the time authorities determined the vehicle was stolen and contained the suspects in the Minnesota crime, the truck had been moved.

A few hours later, the truck was spotted about 10 miles away parked near the park's eastern entrance at Fishing Bridge, a developed area inside the park that includes a general store and a campground.

Two males and a female were inside the truck, Karle said. Authorities believe the men were carrying up to six handguns and rifles, Ellickson added.

Park rangers evacuated the campground, surrounded the pickup and called in a SWAT team from Gallatin County, Montana.

Engelbrecht and O'Flanagan went to the elderly couple's home a month ago, saying their car had broken down and asking to use the phone, Ellickson said.

They left, but returned five minutes later and forced their way into the couple's home at gunpoint, he said.

"We don't know why, but they beat both of them severely," said Ellickson. "The woman is still in critical condition. The man has been upgraded to satisfactory."