BLANDING, Utah – Residents of Bluff, evacuated Thursday afternoon from their tiny town in Southeastern Utah, took refuge here Thursday night.

Some stayed at motels, with friends or family. An estimated 100 of Bluff’s 300 residents stayed at the Albert R. Lyman Middle School gymnasium, which Blanding residents overwhelmed with blankets, mattresses and pillows.

"It’s a big family reunion – all the people from Bluff," Margaret Benally said, looking around the gym. "When we left Bluff, it was like it was just dead. Everything was closed up."

The evacuation of Bluff began at about 1:30 p.m. just after San Juan County Sheriff Deputy Kelly Bradford was shot three times by men believed to be the suspects in Friday’s killing of Cortez Police Officer Dale Claxton.

Bradford was shot while responding to an incident near a swinging bridge which spans the San Juan River a few miles east of Bluff. Dora and Baxter Benally live at the St. Christopher Mission about a mile from the swinging bridge. Dora said she has been nervous ever since hearing the suspects were in the Hovenweep National Monument area about 30 miles from Bluff.

"She’s always wondering every time the dog barks, gets up, looks around outside," Baxter Benall said. "I figured they were back in Durango or Dove Creek. They must know the place.

"You see it in the movies. It’s becoming reality right where you live."

Other travelers were inconvenienced by the roadblocks set up outside Bluff. Axel Schwarz of Stuttgart, Germany had to turn around after trying to get to Mexican Hat, Utah.

"They told me it is a siege," said Schwarz. "We don’t even know what that word means."

Travelers struggled to find places to stay as motels and beds and breakfasts filled up.

Schwarz and his girlfriend ended up at the middle school, where Blanding City Manager Chris Webb was on a loudspeaker telling incoming Bluff residents where to check in and when the food was arriving.

A television kept some children busy in one corner. Another child played a toy xylophone. Others played basketball as a pile of donations continued to grow.

Bluff, Utah, wasn’t quite ready for an emergency evacuation Thursday afternoon. But residents promptly did what they were told.

Doors were locked and blinds pulled at authorities’ request after San Juan County Deputy Kelly Bradford was critically wounded just outside town, apparently by one of the three suspects sought for killing a Cortez police officer. Residents were advised to "stay put and not open the door to anyone."

"We’ve heard sirens up and down the road. ... We’re scared. ... Those guys out there aren’t playing; this is the real thing," said Kathy Inscore, office manager for Wild Rivers, a rafting company in Bluff. A tour group of 28, planning to raft the San Juan River, evacuated when its trip was canceled.

At the beginning of tourist season, restaurants were forced to hang "Closed" signs in mid-afternoon.

"Our town is evacuated because of a manhunt," said a recorded telephone message at the Recapture Lodge. "I promise I’ll call you back in the morning."

Bluff, population 300, is home to artists and tourism-related businesses. Settled by Mormon pioneers in 1880, it was the first Anglo community in southeastern Utah. The San Juan River, its southern border, is also the northern border of the Navajo Indian Reservation. Prehistoric rock etchings of Kokopelli, a mythological flute player, mark the nearby sandstone bluffs.

On Thursday, Bluff was left a breathing ghost town.

Finally a line of yellow school buses was allowed into the corded-off town to pick up residents and carry them to the Albert R. Lyman Middle School and San Juan County High School in Blanding, about 23 miles north. Other people drove their own cars.

In Blanding, volunteers waited for their arrival.

"We’re playing it by ear right now," said Cathy Redd, a volunteer at the high school. "We’re just taking names and making sure people are accounted for."

She said it was still unclear how long Bluff residents would have to stay.

"Everyone’s a bit scared, but we’ll do what’s needed to help," she said.

Just east of Bluff in Montezuma Creek, many businesses imposed their own emergency hours by closing and locking doors Thursday afternoon. One place still operating, the Riverview Texaco station, decided to remain open until 10 p.m., later than usual, to serve more than 250 law-enforcement officers who drop in periodically for gas and food.

Some tourists stopped at the station complaining of the road blocks throwing off their vacations. Others asked questions.

"It’s business as usual," said a store clerk who asked not to be identified. She said the past week had been hectic.