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Oregon militia leader Ammon Bundy arrested after standoff with police leaves one dead Oregon militia leader Ammon Bundy arrested after standoff with police leaves one dead
(35 minutes later)
The leader of an armed occupation at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon and others have been arrested after shots were fired during a traffic stop, leaving one person dead and another wounded, the FBI said. One of the armed anti-government protesters occupying a remote federal facility in eastern Oregon has been killed in a shootout with the authorities, while the group’s leader Ammon Bundy and five other men were arrested.
Protesters were still occupying the remote Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon after leader Ammon Bundy's arrest and the FBI was setting up a perimeter with the hopes of a peaceful resolution, a law enforcement official told Reuters. Arizona rancher Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, 55, was killed in the incident, after the FBI and state police stopped the men’s vehicles on a highway around 50 miles north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, which the group has occupied since early January.
A total of eight people were arrested in two states. The authorities did not publicly identify the dead man last night, but Mr Finicum’s family confirmed that he had been killed during the confrontation, which took place at around 4.30pm local time.
The takeover at Malheur that started on 2 January is the latest flare-up in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, a decades-old conflict over the US government's control of millions acres of land in the West. "My dad was such a good, good man, through and through," 26-year-old Arianna Finicum Brown, one of his 11 children, told The Oregonian. "He would never ever want to hurt somebody, but he does believe in defending freedom and he knew the risks involved."
Several media outlets, including The Oregonian and CNN, reported that police sources said LaVoy Finicum was killed. Finicum, a rancher who acted as a spokesman for the occupiers, told NBC News earlier this month that he would rather die than be arrested. Nevada rancher Ammon Bundy, thought to be the leader of the militant group, was arrested with five others including his brother, 43-year-old Ryan Bundy, who suffered a minor gunshot wound but was treated and later released from hospital into FBI custody. No police were hurt in the incident, and those arrested were charged with conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats.
"There are things more important than your life, and freedom is one of them," he said in the NBC interview. The men, who were on their way to a community meeting in the town of John Day at the time of the arrests, had begun the occupation after two local ranchers were ordered to return to prison to see out their terms for arson. Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven, 46, were convicted of setting fires that spread on to federal land in 2001 and 2006. A judge ruled in October that their original 12-month sentences did not satisfy the federal minimum of five years, and sent them back to prison.
Bundy and four leaders of the occupation were taken into custody following the confrontation along Highway 395 in northeast Oregon around 4:25 pm local time (0025 GMT), according to the FBI. The militants seized the headquarters of the federal wildlife refuge on 2 January, making vague, anti-government demands – including the freeing of the Hammonds – and calling on fellow "patriots" to join their protest. Speaking to reporters while concealed by a tarpaulin early on in the occupation, Mr Finicum said: "There are things more important than your life, and freedom is one of them... I’m prepared to defend freedom."
A sixth individual was arrested by the Oregon State Police in Burns, Oregon, about 1.5 hours later. The FBI said a seventh person was later arrested, 50-year-old Peter Santilli, an independent journalist who livestreamed events at the refuge. During the three weeks of the occupation, the protesters had been allowed to move back and forth between the refuge and the nearby town of Burns unhindered by police. But yesterday two more of the militia-affiliated protesters were arrested in Burns, while Jon Ritzheimer, another prominent member of the far-right group, turned himself into police in Arizona, where he had been visiting his family. All three were arrested on the same conspiracy charge as their compatriots.
The FBI said they also arrested an eighth person in Peoria, Arizona, in relation to the occupation. Dozens of other occupiers reportedly remained at the remote refuge buildings as of late last night. On its website, the militia collective Operation Mutual Defense called on supporters to rally to the location in support of the arrested men. "You have an obligation to proceed to the [Malheur Refuge] immediately," the message said. "If you fail to arrive, you will demonstrate by your own actions that your previous statements to defend life, liberty, and property were false."
All of those arrested face federal charges of conspiracy to use force, intimidation or threats to impede federal officers from discharging their duties, the FBI said.
The Oregonian reported that Bundy had been en route to a community meeting in John Day, Oregon, with several other members of the occupation, where he was scheduled to be a guest speaker, when authorities stopped his vehicle.
The newspaper said 43-year-old Ryan Bundy, Ammon's brother, was injured in the arrest, suffering a minor gunshot wound. Authorities did not release the identity of the person killed, but added that he was the subject of a federal probable cause arrest.
Some 25 miles (40 km) of Highway 395 was shut down in both directions following the incident, a dispatcher for the state department of transportation said. The highway was expected to remain closed as authorities investigate the shooting.
The occupiers of the wildlife refuge said they were supporting two local ranchers who were returned to prison this month for setting fires that spread to federal land. The ranchers' lawyer has said the occupiers do not speak for the family.
Burns Mayor Craig LaFollette told Reuters that while he had limited information about the night's events, he hoped the stand-off would come to a peaceful end.
"I think my perception is that people's patience was running thin and that the community as a whole was looking for some resolution and to have these people leave," he said.
Law enforcement officials had largely kept their distance from the buildings at the refuge, 30 miles (48 km) south of the small town of Burns in rural southeast Oregon's Harney County, in the hope of avoiding a violent confrontation.
Local residents have expressed a mixture of sympathy for the Hammond family, suspicion of the federal government's motives and frustration with the occupation.
Reuters