What a tragedy for this young lady and her family and friends.  I put part of the blame squarely on the groups and government agencies that promote bear spray as an affective way to deal with bears  only a firearm of sufficient power . i.e.  12 guage with premium slugs or large caliber rifle, or the largest of revolvers,  READILY AVAILABLE , in the hands of a competent person will handle an aggressive bear, or other large predator.  
 
was bear spray used after the inititial attack ?
 
It happened so fast that neither woman had time to deploy bear spray initially, Murphy said. Trainor reportedly sprayed the black bear twice, he said, which likely saved her life.

The bear retreated for a short time but returned, Murphy said. It came back more than once, he said.

"There was some duration to the attacks. Erin suffered the brunt of it," Murphy said.