Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, 55, was killed during a traffic stop Tuesday in which Bundy, 40, and three others were also taken into custody, The Oregonian reported. Ammon Bundy’s brother, Ryan, was shot and wounded during the incident. Three other members of the group were taken in to custody separately.
I'm genuinely sorry that anyone at all shed blood. I'm not surprised though. I'm planning a civil disobedience protest in the near future but I will be unarmed and I expect that there will be a legal price to pay. I hope that this can wind down with no more blood but it sounds like the remaining occupiers are determined to ratchet it way up. Hope I'm wrong.
I'm genuinely sorry that anyone at all shed blood. I'm not surprised though. I'm planning a civil disobedience protest in the near future but I will be unarmed and I expect that there will be a legal price to pay. I hope that this can wind down with no more blood but it sounds like the remaining occupiers are determined to ratchet it way up. Hope I'm wrong.
Just an observation, but civil disobedience protests are largely ignored by the powers that be and rarely change anything.
IMHO, these guys out in Oregon went about what they are doing the wrong way as well. And in the end, I'm afraid Lavoy Finicum will have died for nothing.
It's just sad that our country has degraded so far that the only protests that effect tangible change in government are those that involve looting and rioting in the streets.
Man killed in Oregon standoff had preached what he called a 'cowboy's stand for freedom'
Nigel DuaraContact Reporter
Where some activists at an occupied federal wildlife refuge preached rowdyism and brimstone, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was wistful, almost sad.
Bedecked in his trademark earmuffs and cowboy hat, the Arizona rancher would wonder aloud with a shake of his head why reporters couldn’t simply see the rightness of his position: that the federal government was illegally possessing land it had no right to take.
He insisted he and the other occupiers were helping the people of Harney County, Oregon. He often carried a handgun at his side and sometimes set up watch with a long gun across his lap. He maintained a blog — “One Cowboy’s stand for Freedom” — in which he posted videos of himself denouncing the federal government and demanding that federal land be turned over to local authorities and private ranchers. He also wrote a novel, a post-apocalyptic Western thriller called "Only By Blood and Suffering."
Finicum, 55, was killed Tuesday night by an Oregon State Police trooper during an altercation between authorities and some who had occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. About 20 occupiers have squatted for three weeks while they protested the incarceration of a father-and-son pair of ranchers and demanded federal agencies leave the land to local authorities and landowners.
The circumstances of the altercation have not yet been released, but FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing said at a news conference on Wednesday that police were attempting to take Finicum into custody.
“Let me be clear: It is fully and unequivocally the behavior and the choices made by the armed occupiers that have led us to where we are today,” Bretzing said. “And, as the FBI and our partners have demonstrated, actions are not without consequences.”
Finicum’s son, Robert C. Finicum of Provo, Utah, declined to comment when contacted on Wednesday. Arianna Finicum Brown, 26, one of Finicum’s 11 children, told the Oregonian on Tuesday, “My dad was such a good, good man, through and through. He would never ever want to hurt somebody, but he does believe in defending freedom and he knew the risks involved.”
When speaking to the media or the public, Ammon Bundy, putative leader of the activists, was gruff and dismissive. Jon Ritzheimer, a Phoenix-area anti-Muslim activist arrested Tuesday, would stay silent for long stretches before exploding in anger. But Finicum kept his cool. Robert "LaVoy" Finicum
“I can point to the page, here,” Finicum told the Los Angeles Times during the second week of the occupation, holding aloft a pocket Constitution. “I can tell you where to look if you want to see why we’re here.
“You say we’re breaking things up. [But] we’re keeping something together here.”
Though he was soft-spoken, Finicum was as hard-line as his comrades in arms.
In his writings and in videos posted to his blog, Finicum feared that the federal government was preparing to take away his guns, and highlighted President Obama’s National Defense Resources Preparedness executive order, which allows the U.S. government to “to take actions necessary to ensure the availability of adequate resources and production capability,” which Finicum read as permission to seize his assets.
One night during the standoff, Finicum decided to make a stand by sitting down. After hearing a rumor that there was a warrant for his arrest, Finicum declared himself willing to be arrested and took up a position at the mouth of the camp’s entrance, sitting on the ground and under a tarp, as if were a blanket.
There he stayed for a good part of the night, with his tarp and his pocket copy of the Constitution. It was almost certainly a publicity move, one that earned him the moniker “Tarp Man” on Twitter.
Finicum often served as a spokesman for the group, reading statements into cameras and then chatting with reporters when the cameras were off. He told reporters that the occupiers were going through federal files looking for proof of federal malfeasance.
One day with reporters watching, he scaled a ladder to the top of a telephone pole to remove a camera lens. He later held it up for reporters, saying it had been placed by the FBI to monitor the occupiers.
Finicum was, for most of his life, a rancher who paid his grazing fees to the federal government. He declared bankruptcy in 2002 with his wife, Dorthea, on a New Mexico business called Southwest Horse and Trails.
Nine years later, in 2011, Finicum had relocated to Arizona and obtained loans from the Farm Services Agency from both Arizona and Utah — his ranch near Colorado City, Ariz., is near the Utah border in a heavily Mormon part of the state. He put up as collateral all of his crops, equipment and inventory. Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum, militia member in Oregon
Robert "LaVoy" Finicum died when militia members were stopped on an Oregon road. Finicum told the Associated Press in early January that the occupation of a wildlife refuge was "intended to be peaceful." He also said, referring to the rifle in his lap, "I'm not going to jail."
Finicum said that his outlook began to change regarding his own grazing fees and the vast swaths of land owned by the federal government when Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy refused to pay $1 million in fees and faced off with federal agents who had rounded up cattle he let graze on federal land.
The Bundys claimed that federal land was essentially theft by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., from the citizens of the West. They were determined to undo the federal possession of land that had once been purchased by the United States.
The Bundys also subscribe to the belief espoused by a faction of Mormons that the United States is a Christian nation gifted to the people of the West by a Christian god. The federal government’s possession of the land, they say, flies in the face of the will of their god.
Shown the possibilities of avoiding paying grazing fees and an ostensible constitutional grounding that meshed with his religious values, Finicum proceeded with the zeal of a convert. He recorded a series of videos he posted to his own blog. The recurring theme: the overreach of government and how it infringed on individual freedom.
“Hello everyone, this is LaVoy Finicum,” he began his last video, posted Dec. 17. “To the degree that us individuals are dependent on any government … for our food, our water, our shelter, to that degree, we’re not free.”
Finicum advised viewers to prepare for a year without food — a suggestion popular among “doomsday preppers,” those who believe the biblically foretold end times are coming, and the righteous must be prepared to survive for a time without help.
Pointing to his supplies, including 300 pounds of wheat for $70 and 100 pounds of rolled oats for $45, he smiled.
“There’s not a lot of variety, you’re going to get tired of it,” he said. “But it keeps body and soul together.”
Finicum joined Cliven Bundy at the Nevada ranch for the 2014 standoff, and he was one of the earliest to join Cliven’s sons Ammon and Ryan in Burns, Ore., in December, when they began the first protests in support of Dwight and Steven Hammond, the ranchers sent to prison in early January.
When a group of about 15 men broke off from a protest in support of the Hammonds to occupy the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2, Finicum wasn’t far behind.
Finicum indeed told reporters he would die before he went to prison, but like most other activists, said he wasn’t seeking a violent end to the occupation.
According to Talking Points Memo, his novel, “Only by Blood and Suffering,” uses the boogeymen of the conservative movement — the U.S. government, China and terrorists — as foils to the main characters. In 241 pages, Finicum’s characters endure series of calamities and try to reach a family member’s ranch as they escape San Diego.
Hamstrung by the government’s ban on guns and his own lack of preparation, one character chastises himself for not stocking up on food before the crisis began — a theme Finicum would repeat in his videos.
“A twinge of guilt pulled at me. What would dad think with me showing up at the ranch with so little food?” one character thinks to himself. “How many times had he told us kids to lay up stores and supplies?” http://www.latimes.com/nati...-20160127-story.html
Eyewitness Says Feds Ambushed Bundys, 100 Shots Fired at Passengers, Lavoy Finicum Killed With ‘Hands Up’ January 27, 2016 By 21wire 201 Comments
Patrick Henningsen 21st Century Wire
Last night, the standoff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside Burns, Oregon took a rather ugly turn which resulted in one man shot dead and another wounded by federal agents.
The latest incident took place as two vehicles carrying protesters, led by Ammon Bundy, were en route to a community meeting in the nearby town of John Day in Oregon.
According to numerous mainstream media reports and local media outlet Oregon Live, ‘federal sources’ are telling the media that only “3 shots were fired”, but a new eye witness testimony by one of the vehicle’s passengers tells a very different story.
While the mainstream media is still referring to the event as “a shoot-out”, according to this latest eye witness account at the scene – no shots were fired by vehicle passengers.
According to eyewitness Victoria Sharp, 18 yrs old from Lakeside, Montana – who was in the same truck with Arizona rancher Lavoy Finicum, Ryan Bundy, Ryan Payne and Shawna Cox – dozens of federal vehicles and countless agents were waiting for the group, pre-positioned at a point along the isolated rural Highway 395, before intercepting the group and making 8 arrests, including Ammon and Ryan Bundy – who were booked into Multnomah County Jail early this morning.
Sharp confirmed that the passengers never drew weapons and attempted to get out of their vehicles before federal agents fired “at least 120 shots altogether” at the vehicle carrying her party, but not the other vehicle, a Jeep with Ammon Bundy inside, driven by ‘security’ person, Mark McConnell.
Federal agents fired their first shots at passenger Ryan Payne – as he attempted to make contact with the agents by sticking his head and hands out of the window, at which point Payne got back inside the vehicle.
Payne then exited the truck and was detained before driver Finicum advanced the vehicle further down the road before sliding into a snow bank on the side of the road.
1-Oregon-Standoff After crashing into the snow bank on the side of the highway, driver Lavoy Finicum (photo, above) then exited the vehicle, visibly upset and with his hands in the air, before being gunned down by federal agents. Finicum was walking with his hands in the air, daring federal agents, “Just shoot me! Just shoot me” – at which point the agents shot him dead. His hands were still in the air.
Numerous ‘red dots’ from lasers could be seen pointed on the passengers by federal marksmen, in what was described by this witness as an “ambush” by federal authorities. Sharps said, “I had 20 lasers on me when I got out of the car.”
She also confirmed that Ryan Bundy was shot and wounded in the arm by federal agents while still inside the truck.
Federal forces then followed-up by firing CS tear gas rounds around the vehicle, apparently in an attempt to further disable the remaining passengers.
At least 40 federal vehicles, as well as many armed federal agents including some seen emerging from the surrounding forest along the highway, should leave little doubt as to the scale and nature of the operation.
According to local media reports: “The highway was blocked for a 40-mile stretch between Burns and John Day. Police were stationed near Seneca, a small city of 200 south of John Day, with long guns. They said they didn’t know how long the roadblock would be in place. Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer was there.”
Listen to Ms. Sharp’s harrowing testimony here:
. Conflicting Accounts
Reporter Les Zaitz from Oregon Live, a key source of mainstream media information from the Refuge protest, did not give prominence to Victoria Sharp’s account in his article, but instead chose to lead with and highlight the secondhand account of the other vehicle’s passenger Mark McConnell who claimed that unarmed victim Lavoy Finicum “charged at law enforcement” before being shot. Zaitz’s article even admits that McConnell’s vehicle was at least 200 yards behind the truck driven by Finicum.
Incredibly, Oregonian Zaitz appears to favor McConnell’s account on the basis that his account has “matched accounts from law enforcement sources.” McConnell issued his version of events after being released from law enforcement custody, where he spoke for 2 hours with law enforcement officers and agents.
Tabloid news site Raw Story also ran with a similar narrative with a deceptive headline that read “Eyewitnesses knock down conspiracy theories about LaVoy Finicum…“, referring to secondhand accounts by McConnell and fellow passenger Melvin Lee.
As it turns out, Mark McConnell did not actually see the shooting, and instead had ‘pieced together’ his account, as evidenced by his own statement later posted online:
…”going off of what Shawna Cox and Ryan Payne were saying, which were in the vehicle, um, Visually, I seen the truck take off, you know, now any time someone takes off in a vehicle away from law enforcement after they exercise a stop, it’s typically considered an act of aggression and foolish. Payne said while they were sitting there and they were clearing my vehicle that him and LeVoy had a heated discussion…”
“…but he took off they had to chase him, and from what Shawna Cox was saying… from inside of his truck that when he exited the vehicle… he charged after law enforcement….”
“What I do know to be true, from what Payne said and what Shawna said taken pieces here and pieces there and from what I witnessed, um, I didn’t see the shooting, um, he was not on his knees, he was not, none of that non sense, that was a miscommunication on somebody else’s part but he went after em, he charged em.”
Somewhat amazingly, after speculating about the shooting, McConnell then says, “… I didn’t see it, and I’m not going to speculate on it.”
McConnell is said to have been riding in the rear vehicle with Ammon Bundy and his private security, Brian Cavalier.
This shocking turn of events comes just days after Oregon governor Kate Brown issued what some might consider to be a veiled threat to the protesters and militia, saying that the federal government “must move quickly to end the occupation and hold all of the wrongdoers accountable.”
SEE ALSO: Activists or Terrorist? The Truth About the Oregon Standoff
According to the FBI’s press release, arrested individuals include:
Ammon Edward Bundy, 40, of Emmett, Idaho Ryan C. Bundy, 43, of Bunkerville, Nevada Brian Cavalier, 44, of Bunkerville, Nevada Shawna Cox, 59, of Kanab, Utah Ryan Waylen Payne, 32, of Anaconda, Montana Joseph Donald O’Shaughnessy, 45, of Cottonwood, Arizona
After the federal operation on Highway 395, in a separate incident back at the Wildlife Refuge, YouTube and internet radio personality, Peter Santilli, 50, of Cincinnati, Ohio, approached the venue and walked towards federal agents before being taken into custody.
Those still in detention are scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland.
According to reports, FBI agents in Phoenix also “made a probable cause arrest of Jon Eric Ritzheimer, age 32, on a federal charge related to the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon.”
Jon Ritzheimer, another controversial YouTube personality and former US Marine, appears to have left the Malheur Refuge right before the federal operation to apprehend the protesters, when he returned to his home in Peoria, Arizona.
Back at the Refuge protest site, the FBI are said to be negotiating with remaining 8-10 occupiers inside, with reports that most women and minors have already left the site. http://21stcenturywire.com/...illed-with-hands-up/
Article I read says the feds did, but have not released it (video is said to show man reaching for his waist). The article does not match what was posted above either. So... time to pressure for the release of the video. Video can be either helpful or detrimental to one's cause... depending on the motivations (talking about both parties, as pretty much everyone has a camera on their phone, so why didn't anyone else use it... or maybe they did but don't want it released???) Lots of speculation, little in the way of facts. Eye witnesses... well, even that has problems... if they are involved in one side or another, their testimonial is tainted (not to mention that eye witness accounts have been proven to be unreliable, in court).
So, just need to wait for more facts and pressure the release of those facts.
Article I read says the feds did, but have not released it (video is said to show man reaching for his waist). The article does not match what was posted above either. So... time to pressure for the release of the video. Video can be either helpful or detrimental to one's cause... depending on the motivations (talking about both parties, as pretty much everyone has a camera on their phone, so why didn't anyone else use it... or maybe they did but don't want it released???) Lots of speculation, little in the way of facts. Eye witnesses... well, even that has problems... if they are involved in one side or another, their testimonial is tainted (not to mention that eye witness accounts have been proven to be unreliable, in court).
So, just need to wait for more facts and pressure the release of those facts.
If the article was correct at all, the feds were firing on one of the vehicles, not time to reach for your iphone. As for the video, how long does it take to edit? That may be when its released. Not saying the Feds will edit, but it is certainly within the realm of the government the pulled Fast and Furious, and used the IRS to target Tea Party members.
If the article was correct at all, the feds were firing on one of the vehicles, not time to reach for your iphone. As for the video, how long does it take to edit? That may be when its released. Not saying the Feds will edit, but it is certainly within the realm of the government the pulled Fast and Furious, and used the IRS to target Tea Party members.
It comes down to the truth - either the sheriff is lying or the daughter (insert X-files theme music)... another article:
quote
Harney County Sheriff David Ward told reporters that prior to the stop, the occupiers had "ultimatums that I couldn't meet."
"I'm disappointed that a traffic stop yesterday that was supposed to bring peaceful resolution to this ended badly," said Ward, who spoke haltingly.
The protesters — a total of nine people — were in two vehicles during the stop, the law enforcement official told NBC News.
The FBI and state police staked out a spot along the route to John Day to stop the caravan. At first, both vehicles complied with an order to pull over, but then the lead vehicle took off, the law enforcement official said.
It comes down to the truth - either the sheriff is lying or the daughter (insert X-files theme music)... another article:
[QUOTE]Harney County Sheriff David Ward told reporters that prior to the stop, the occupiers had "ultimatums that I couldn't meet."
"I'm disappointed that a traffic stop yesterday that was supposed to bring peaceful resolution to this ended badly," said Ward, who spoke haltingly.
The protesters — a total of nine people — were in two vehicles during the stop, the law enforcement official told NBC News.
The FBI and state police staked out a spot along the route to John Day to stop the caravan. At first, both vehicles complied with an order to pull over, but then the lead vehicle took off, the law enforcement official said.
If law enforcement lies, what difference does it really make? Heck, the cops that fired on the blue Tacoma with the newspaper delivery ladies just got let off yesterday. I know, the DA finally said they were all bueno. Nice that this can get lost in the fluff. Kim K!
If law enforcement lies, what difference does it really make? Heck, the cops that fired on the blue Tacoma with the newspaper delivery ladies just got let off yesterday. I know, the DA finally said they were all bueno. Nice that this can get lost in the fluff. Kim K!
As I said.. the truth is out there (one of those people are lying). Autopsy report is needed, forensics is needed. Bring in a third party, if needed. Jumping to conclusions only causes the divide to grow wider.
A witness on the Today show said she was there and the one they killed had both his hands in the air.... So its a she said...he said...so you pick who to believe. Tuesday the police chief said all the others at the building would be allowed to leave peacefully with no further arrests. Yesterday they set up roadblocks around the area and prompty arrested 3 more people who were leaving. So much for the police's 'word'
Originally posted by Formula88: Yeah, remember that white celebrity calling for the deaths of all the BLM protesters when they were looting and torching neighborhoods?
quote
Originally posted by dennis_6: No, but I assume that is the point.
quote
Originally posted by Formula88: You are correct. That was indeed the point.
It's not just celebrities' approach to this that should be noted. In Ferguson, the Feds and local law enforcement were told to back off and let the protesters do whatever they wanted...
Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum shot and killed while charging police, driver says
... In his video, McConnell said Ammon Bundy and Cavalier were in the vehicle he was driving to John Day for a community meeting. He said Finicum was driving a pickup that carried Ryan Bundy, Payne, Cox and the 18-year-old woman.
He said as they traveled on U.S. 395 police vehicles pulled in behind them and stopped them. McConnell said he was removed by police first, then Ammon Bundy then Cavalier. A look back at LaVoy Finicum’s role during the Oregon standoff Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, 55, has been the spokesperson during the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation. He was killed Jan. 26, 2016.
He said Finicum's pickup was stopped about 200 yards away, and one passenger already was on the ground in handcuffs.
McConnell said Payne and Cox later recounted how Payne and Finicum got into a "heated discussion" about what to do.
"LaVoy was passionate about this, about the movement," McConnell said.
McConnell said he noticed movement, and Finicum "took off" in the pickup with the remaining passengers. He said Payne and Cox described encountering a police roadblock about a mile north on the highway and apparently tried to get around it, becoming stuck in the snow.
"When he exited the vehicle, the rear wheels were still spinning," McConnell said. "He charged at law enforcement" and was shot.
McConnell disputed earlier accounts on social media that Finicum was shot while on his knees with his hands up.
McConnell said he and the 18-year-old, Victoria Sharp, were taken to Burns for questioning and later released.
His account couldn't be immediately confirmed, but several details matched accounts from law enforcement sources. ...
Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum shot and killed while charging police, driver says
.... ...
From your article... Sharp also shared her story of what unfolded outside of Burns in a YouTube video.
The teenager had traveled to the refuge last week with her mother and six of her siblings to sing religious and patriotic songs. Sharp said she was in the other car -- separate from McConnell -- because she planned to sing at the community meeting in John Day late Tuesday afternoon.
Sharp said that Finicum was driving to the meeting and that Ryan Payne was in the passenger seat. She said she was sitting in the back seat between Ryan Bundy and Shawna Cox.
Sharp didn't immediately return a Facebook message seeking comment. Burns shooting witness says Lavoy Finicum had his hands in the air when he was shot In a 12-minute audio-only video on YouTube, Victoria Sharp shared her story of what unfolded during the shooting in Burns. This is an excerpt.
In a 12-minute audio-only video on YouTube, Sharp said that after they were stopped by police, Payne was trying to get her and Cox safely out of the car when police took their first shot.
"He put his hands out the window, he was trying to talk with them," said Sharp, who was raised in Kansas but lists on her Facebook page that she is currently living in Montana.
"Ryan (Payne) said, 'We have women in the car, let the women out," she said, "He stuck his head out and they shot at him... but they missed him."
Sharp said that they began to realize that the police "meant business" and that Finicum, who was driving, yelled that he was going to continue driving so that he could "talk to the sheriff."
"He drove and we all got down on the floorboards and they just started firing at us, shooting at us a bunch of times," she said, adding that Finicum reached the roadblock and his truck rammed into a snowbank.
With the car running, she said, Finicum "got out of the car and he had his hands in the air and he was like, 'Just shoot me then, just shoot me.'"
"And they did," she said. "They shot him dead."
Sharp said she thought she heard as many as 100 bullets fired and that those remaining in the car were getting "gassed." She said they were trying to find something white they could wave out the window.
Sharp said that while some in the car with her had their guns, she believed that none of the occupiers had attempted to use them. She said Ryan Bundy was hit by a bullet in the shoulder as they were ducking down in the car.
Yup, never attempted to hide it... that is why I provided the link. BUT the new information is that Lavoy charged... so, here we have two different people, from the same side, who have completely different stories about the account. Odd... don't you think?
quote
Originally posted by dennis_6:
From your article... Sharp also shared her story of what unfolded outside of Burns in a YouTube video.
Yup, never attempted to hide it... that is why I provided the link. BUT the new information is that Lavoy charged... so, here we have two different people, from the same side, who have completely different stories about the account. Odd... don't you think?
No, I don't. I want to see pics of the vehicle. If it is riddled with bullet holes the feds are lying. Ever think the guy matching the police reports was either a fed plant or promised no prison if he tells the official story, or worse they would leave his family alone if he does what they say?
I don't know if Finicum committed suicide by cop, or the FBI is full of it. Remember, we all should have reason to question the FBI, Waco both times and Ruby Ridge.
Law enforcement officials have offered some details about the death of Oregon militant LaVoy Finicum — and they revealed that his fatal shooting was recorded on video.
A law enforcement source described the fatal encounter to CNN, which reported that Finicum attempted to drive away from a traffic stop at high speed before crashing his pickup into a snowbank along U.S. 395.
That matches the account given by 18-year-old Victoria Sharp, who was riding with Finicum, and Mark McConnell, who was riding in another vehicle stopped by police just minutes before the crash and shooting.
But those two witnesses contradict one another in some key details.
McConnell said he spoke to two other passengers in Finicum’s pickup, who he said told him the rancher charged at law enforcement officers before he was shot.
Both of those other passengers were arrested and have not publicly spoken about the shooting.
Sharp, however, said Finicum got out of his pickup at officers’ request and walked toward them with his hands up while daring them to shoot him.
“He’s like, just shoot me then, just shoot me — and they did, they shot him dead,” Sharp said. “They shot him right there, he was just walking — I saw it. I swear to God, he was just walking with his hands in the air.”
Now, a third account offers additional, possibly contradictory, details about what happened when Finicum tried to drive around a roadblock and became stuck in a snowbank.
The law enforcement source told CNN that FBI agents and state police ordered Finicum to surrender when he emerged from his truck, which both McConnell and Sharp said was still running and possibly still in gear. “Finicum reached down toward his waistband where he had a gun,” CNN reported, citing unspecified and unnamed authorities.
SWAT officers opened fire at that point, killing Finicum and wounding Ryan Bundy on the arm, the authorities said.
Bundy was riding in the back seat with Sharp and 59-year-old Shawna Cox. The shooting was captured on video recorded by SWAT officers, and the FBI and Oregon state police are discussing whether to release the video to “counter claims by supporters that Finicum was gunned down while trying to surrender,” CNN reported.
No timetable was given for the video’s release.
Supporters of the militants who occupied Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for nearly a month have claimed that Finicum died while either kneeling or attempting to kneel in surrender, although even Sharp has claimed he was walking toward officers.
A Grant County man who happened upon the incident places McConnell closer to the scene than the militant leader’s bodyguard, who guessed he was about a mile away, did himself.
Dave Hannibal, of Dayville, was stopped Tuesday afternoon by authorities while driving north on U.S. 395, and an FBI agent told him to stop and pull over.
Arun Gupta, who is reporting on the occupation for The Raw Story, was also stopped about that time on the same stretch of road and told that a crash had closed the highway.
Law enforcement officers said they had been watching the militants come and go for weeks, gathering information and evidence, and waited until the group’s top leaders left the base together in a two-vehicle convoy.
“They got quite comfortable coming and going,” said one law enforcement official. “This was a ‘standoff-lite.'”
Authorities knew which route they planned to take to the John Day Senior Center, where they were believed to be plotting a similar armed takeover in Grant County — and that’s where officers set their trap.
Hannibal watched at a distance, snapping photos, as law enforcement officers ensnared the first vehicle and arrested militant leader Ammon Bundy and one of his bodyguards, Brian “Booda” Cavalier.
He said both men were arrested without a fight and sat handcuffed on the highway.
Hannibal said he spotted a second vehicle about a quarter mile or half mile up 395, about 50 feet off the road in the snow.
He said that vehicle’s passenger-side window appeared to have been shot out.
Sharp said officers opened fire on Finicum’s pickup after he demanded they let him drive on to Grant County to speak to the sheriff, who he considered an ally, and then drove away at high speed.
The teen, who said she and the other passengers dove to the floorboard at that point, also claimed that officers fired as many as 100 bullets at the pickup after killing Finicum — who would have turned 56 years old the next day.
Hannibal did not mention any other damage to Finicum’s pickup, but it’s not clear how close he was to that vehicle.
Both Sharp and McConnell were questioned and released after the traffic stop.
Authorities have arrested 11 people in connection with the three-week occupation of the wildlife refuge, although more arrests are expected.
At least three militants are believed to be remaining at the refuge, after three surrendered late Wednesday.
All of the militants who have been arrested were charged with a federal felony charge of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.
Law enforcement officials have offered some details about the death of Oregon militant LaVoy Finicum — and they revealed that his fatal shooting was recorded on video.
I'm going to wait and watch the video before drawing any conclusions.
My assumptions have been tempered by past events - the Michael Brown shooting (justified law enforcement shooting) and the LAPD shooting of the two women delivering newspapers from their truck (unjustified law enforcement shooting).
In light of these two incidents, we can't assume the officers in this case did the right or wrong thing until we see the video and other evidence (which we hope doesn't get tampered with before being made public or seen by a jury).
[This message has been edited by Darth Fiero (edited 01-28-2016).]
I'm going to wait and watch the video before drawing any conclusions.
My assumptions have been tempered by past events - the Michael Brown shooting (justified law enforcement shooting) and the LAPD shooting of the two women delivering newspapers from their truck (unjustified law enforcement shooting).
In light of these two incidents, we can't assume the officers in this case did the right or wrong thing until we see the video and other evidence (which we hope doesn't get tampered with before being made public or seen by a jury).
Agreed, my only point is I am not buying the party line, until I see the evidence. I am also not calling it murder, yet. It could go either way.
Is it possible he was clutching where he was shot, or went after the gun after being shot? Video is aerial so its impossible to tell when the FBI fired.
Also after the flash bangs, there are "puffs of smoke" off the Bundy vehicle was it fired upon?
Also after the flash bangs, there are "puffs of smoke" off the Bundy vehicle was it fired upon?
Yes, I believe there are multiple reports of the truck being shot at multiple times by law enforcement.
Attempting to run a police road block is just cause for getting you shot. Reaching into any pocket while armed and in a confrontation with police is also just cause for getting you shot.
Interesting tidbit I saw in the video toward the end showed that right as the truck impacted the snow bank, there appeared to be an officer that was trying to run in front of the truck and he was nearly struck (he might have been, slightly; can't tell from the footage shown). Don't know what that idiot was thinking but he was lucky he didn't get run over.
The video does not show what was going on inside the truck nor if law enforcement had justification for continuing to shoot after Lavoy went down. I heard that 2 of the occupants of the truck were struck be gunfire. There were others in the truck that were not struck by gunfire, including an 18 year old girl. Don't know if she was armed or not, but at least on the surface, it could have been questionable to fire into a truck that had multiple occupants, some of which could have been in there against their will - given the situation. We don't have all the facts so we don't know how it went down, exactly. Drone/helo footage isn't good enough to show everything we need to see.
I'm betting there aren't going to be any on-the-ground camera views showing the final moments depicted in this video unless the officers involved were wearing body cams. So all we have to go on is the word of the officers and surviving occupants of the truck.
That being said, Lavoy had made it clear multiple times he wasn't going to jail and he was pretty much prepared to die. So, to me, this was pretty much a suicide by cop scenario brought about by the situation that unfolded as seen on the video.
......Right now they are pacing back and forth trying to figure out how to slaughter the Militia without being the villain. When they figure out how to villainize the Militia is when this whole thing goes south.
Attempting to run a police road block is just cause for getting you shot. Reaching into any pocket while armed and in a confrontation with police is also just cause for getting you shot.
Interesting tidbit I saw in the video toward the end showed that right as the truck impacted the snow bank, there appeared to be an officer that was trying to run in front of the truck and he was nearly struck (he might have been, slightly; can't tell from the footage shown). Don't know what that idiot was thinking but he was lucky he didn't get run over.
The video does not show what was going on inside the truck nor if law enforcement had justification for continuing to shoot after Lavoy went down. I heard that 2 of the occupants of the truck were struck be gunfire. There were others in the truck that were not struck by gunfire, including an 18 year old girl. Don't know if she was armed or not, but at least on the surface, it could have been questionable to fire into a truck that had multiple occupants, some of which could have been in there against their will - given the situation. We don't have all the facts so we don't know how it went down, exactly. Drone/helo footage isn't good enough to show everything we need to see.
I'm betting there aren't going to be any on-the-ground camera views showing the final moments depicted in this video unless the officers involved were wearing body cams. So all we have to go on is the word of the officers and surviving occupants of the truck.
That being said, Lavoy had made it clear multiple times he wasn't going to jail and he was pretty much prepared to die. So, to me, this was pretty much a suicide by cop scenario brought about by the situation that unfolded as seen on the video.
This is the most logical answer. Lavoy planned his own ending.
I am sure more information will be released, including the vehicle.
Enhanced video, and it does look like Finicum's hands lowered after the gun of the first agent by the road moves. I can't tell if that was from the agent moving or firing. We need a body/gun/vehicle cam.
I haven't watched the video yet, but I see two basic scenarios.
The FBI are being honest and are the good guys - Finicum reached for a gun and was killed. The FBI are corrupt and covering for the BLM - Finicum was killed to be removed from the situation.
Bottom line is there weren't many possible options that allow him to survive that encounter even with honest agents. If you're protesting the government and consider them the bad guys, you have to accept that your life may be forfeit. I'm not making an excuse for anyone. I only wish to point out a thought process someone needs to go through BEFORE deciding to protest or oppose a ruling government. The best possible ending to the occupation would likely result in everyone in jail at least.
This is why the Declaration of Independence ended with this statement.
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"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
Opposing the standing government is never a safe thing to do. I hope Finicum's family agreed with Finicum that this cause was worth the risk of his loss of life. May he find the peace he was denied in life.
[This message has been edited by Formula88 (edited 01-29-2016).]
More things that are not sitting right with me. FBI claims he had a 9mm in his pocket, and he was going for the pocket. Finicum carried a .45 on his waist. Why would you go for a backup that is harder to get? If he was going for the gun, why does it look like he went for it twice? Why are his "reaching for a gun" movements syncd to the agents guns movement? How did bundy get shot in the arm, while they were firing on Finicum, FBI is either horrid shots, or that shot came before/after. McConnel was way behind, and he claimed Finicum charged officers, Finicum was not walking directly towards officers, and he was not charging anything in snow that deep. This was not a traffic stop, traffic stops don't have road blocks, helicopters, and agents in the wood line.
I agree, that if you take a stand, be prepared for this outcome. He died for his beliefs.
Other things to note, I do believe his daughters testimony now. From her perspective, it does look exactly like what she said. Doesn't mean that Finicum didn't commit suicide by cop, but from her perspective it looked like she was being honest. *Snow was deep enough to make it look like he was on his knees. *After 30 seconds or so, Finicums last movement was stretching out his arm, and that did make it look like he still had his hands up still. *Flash bangs were deployed and Less lethal munitions, then there were "puffs of smoke" that kind of indicate the FBI was firing into the vehicle for whatever reason, to a teenage girl that probably all sounded like gunfire.
[This message has been edited by dennis_6 (edited 01-29-2016).]
Lavoy actions are not that of someone who was surrendering (based on the video). He was walking around, most likely not listening to commands of officers. That would indicate he is not surrendering, but instead is still a threat. This makes me think he already decided on his actions before this event. Sad that he had to endanger others, if he really wanted to go out this way.
The daughter said she was lying on the floor of the SUV. What was she able to see from there?
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"He drove and we all got down on the floorboards and they just started firing at us, shooting at us a bunch of times," she said, adding that Finicum reached the roadblock and his truck rammed into a snowbank.
Sounds like more will be coming, so most everything is still speculation as video is not clear down to the split second.
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Originally posted by dennis_6:
McConnel was way behind, and he claimed Finicum charged officers, Finicum was not walking directly towards officers, and he was not charging anything in snow that deep.
Other things to note, I do believe his daughters testimony now. From her perspective, it does look exactly like what she said.
