Really weird story all the way around. I listened to the full radio traffic from the SBSO Airship as well, and it sounds like they weren't too concerned about it being any kind of immediate threat. The accounts in that first article are clearly glorified and blown out of proportion. If they were firing for two straight hours right into a group of campers, as the article stated, the Sheriff's department would have had a far different response and the airship would have coordinated that. Only at the very end did he contact the Sergeant and recommend that they have a counter-terrorism team investigate the people to see if there was any kind of illegal activity, which is a very normal response based on the reports of a large group of middle-eastern men firing weapons in a remote area of the desert. I hate to say that it's fair to profile, but it's the kind of thing that raises suspicions and falls under "see something, say something."
Based on what I can piece together from the two articles, it sounds like they were all camping in the same area as one another and even had a polite interaction during the evening/night. The men supposedly wandered off into the hills the following day, and other campers were hearing gunshots and possibly saw a few of the men with handguns, so the Sheriff's department helicopter searched the area and located the group hiking along a trail. They weren't trying to conceal their location or anything, and they cooperated with deputies as soon as they were contacted.
Everything else is pure speculation, and I won't believe it until its substantiated in one way or another. I'm guessing that first article was written based on the witness accounts of some 17 year old kids didn't have a clue what was going on. That whole area around Deep Creek Hot Springs is full of weirdos anyway - they're all potheads and nudists and what not. Just read the yelp reviews of the area - everyone says it's beautiful, but full of reckless young people running around naked, smoking pot and drinking beer and leaving tons of trash behind. One of the yelp reviews even says "for best results, bring 'lucy' with you."
Like I said, if I had been there, I would have definitely placed a phone call to local authorities and advised them it was worth taking a look into.
