BLUFF, Utah – Residents in this small southeastern Utah town typically would have spent their Friday afternoon wrapping up their workdays, finishing throwing pottery or preparing for a hike on the nearby bluffs.

Instead, most were miles away from home, taking shelter in Blanding while hundreds of specialized troops were in Bluff searching for two suspects accused of killing one police officer and wounding three deputies – suspects who have eluded a massive manhunt by local, state and federal authorities, including the National Guard, for a week.

This desert oasis on the edge of the Navajo Reservation, where summer tourists flock to buy American Indian jewelry, pottery, rugs, and other arts and crafts, was brought to a standstill.

Bluff residents were evacuated Thursday night after the manhunt shifted from Cahone.

Friday, residents were allowed to return at 9 p.m.

One of three suspects, Robert Mason of Durango, burrowed into a bunker on the banks of the San Juan River southeast of town. Police said Mason shot San Juan County Sheriff’s Deputy Kelly Bradford before killing himself with a gunshot to his head.

Authorities set up a command center at the Bluff public school house and shut out residents and media. Friday morning officers escorted Bluff residents back to their homes to get extra clothes and to feed pets. A few residents chose to stay at their own risk.

On Mulberry St. in Bluff’s historic district, Vaughn Hadenfeldt swept the front porch of his archaeology expedition company. Hadenfeldt, who has lived in Bluff for 1½ years, spent Thursday night in Blanding but stopped back in town to do a few chores Friday afternoon.

Hadenfeldt said the area along the twisting river that searchers are scouring for the suspects is a perfect place to hide. The riverbanks are dense with Russian olive and tamarisk trees that lend well to camouflage. Hadenfeldt said Bluff wasn’t Bluff anymore. He said he joined other town residents in hoping the manhunt will end soon.

Around the corner from Hadenfeldt’s Far Out Expeditions, hundreds of police officers and Colorado National Guard troops were gearing up to join the search. Special Forces decked out in fatigues with painted faces waited in the Bluff school basketball yard to board helicopters.

Navajo Nation trackers gathered around a quadrangle map strategically organizing the next move. Inside the school, the Red Cross was feeding off-duty troops. Although the command center was quiet and workers carried out tasks without chaos, more residents drove slowly down the narrow streets lined with stucco and adobe houses built to blend in with the surrounding scenery.

Tom Rice, Pioneer House Inn owner, said Friday’s events changed the pace of living in Bluff. A resident since 1986, Rice said people live in this tiny town of 300 to escape crime. But since the criminals reared their heads in their town, residents are angry it’s taking place in their back yards.

"We’re angry we’ve been run out of town," Rice said. " And we’re angry that this happened in a community we like living in."

Rice said residents had been following the chain of events since last Friday’s slaying in Cortez, but they were shocked when the news came over scanners Thursday that one of their own deputies had been shot by a suspect armed with high-powered weapons.

"This isn’t the Wild West everyone thinks it is," Rice said. "People like this place for the archaeology and geology. But there are idiots and outlaws wherever you go."

Other business owners said the number of tourists in town started dwindling over the weekend when news about the manhunt spread across the country.

Brothers Steve and Craig Simpson, who own Twin Rocks Trading Post and Cafe and Hozhoni Pottery, said shutting down the town will hurt the local economy, which is already depressed.

The Simpsons grew up in Bluff, went to school with the wounded deputy, and said that they wished it was a different incident that was giving the town national media attention.

They characterized Bluff as a safe, friendly town. They said the makeup of residents is diverse and all have strong opinions. They said there are many passive people that live here, but when this ordeal is over and people are back in their own homes and beds waking up to bright red buttes colored by the sun, they will bounce back.

"We have no choice, you have to," Craig Simpson said.

San Juan County Sheriff Mike Lacy said Friday that the two remaining suspects are obviously well-prepared and "waiting for the end of the world to come."