Wildlife Standoff in Oregon: FBI makes traffic stop? 2 men shot, 1 killed, reporter arrested

[Drew Phipps]

Cliven Bundy: The arrest of my son should be a 'wake-up call to America'

ALLAN SMITH
Jan 27th 2016 10:42AM

http://www.aol.com/article/2016/01/27/cl.../21303694/

Cliven Bundy -- the father of now-arrested Ammon and Ryan Bundy, who were part of the Oregon "militia" that took over a federal wildlife refuge for 25 days -- said his son's arrest and the killing of another group member "will be a wake-up call to America." "This is a total disaster to be happening in America," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "We have, I'm guessing, federal people killing innocent people. I'll tell you one thing, my sons and those who were there were there to do good, no harm was intended, they would never threaten anybody, they was trying to teach people about the Constitution and trying to help the Hammond family, trying to make sure this type of abuse didn't happen in America and yet, it did."


Ammon, the leader of the self-styled militia occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon, was arrested after the FBI conducted a traffic stop. His brother Ryan and five others were in the vehicle at the time of the stop. Shots were fired during the arrest. One man, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, was killed, according to a militia spokesman. Officials have not yet publicly confirm Finicum's death.


Ryan suffered a minor gunshot wound during the traffic stop as well, according to The Oregonian. The brothers and four other associates were arrested on scene while another man, Peter Santilli, an independent broadcaster who live-streamed the occupation, was also arrested later.


The group of occupiers was on their way to a community meeting in John Day, Oregon, per KATU News. The remaining occupiers at the refuge have no plans to leave, per The Oregonian. The standoff in Oregon began January 2 when an armed group led by Ammon took control of the refuge to protest the sentences of two men who set fire to federal land, Dwight and Steven Hammond.
Cliven made national headlines for a similar standoff with federal officials in Nevada during 2014.

[Albert Doyle]

The one thing the feds got right was wildland preservation. The economic end of that might be negotiable, but the main idea is sacrosanct.

These militia people are Tea Party-ers going after the basic premise of environmental conservation. Don't let this trojan horse fool you. It's the right-wingers in cowboy hats going after the environment. They are practicing the proud American tradition of breaking every treaty.

[Drew Phipps]

Oregon arrests: Dead occupier LaVoy Finicum was dad of 11

ALEXANDER SMITH & ERIN CALABRESE
Jan 27th 2016 7:45AM

http://www.aol.com/article/2016/01/27/or...D928083903

A cowboy-hat-wearing Mormon rancher who died during the arrests of his fellow Oregon occupiers on Tuesday night had vowed weeks ago never to be taken alive by authorities. LaVoy Finicum, one of the protesters' de facto spokesmen, died after shots were fired when police stopped the group on Highway 395 as they headed to a public meeting. Five of his cohorts were arrested at the scene, officials said.


Oregon State Police said an investigation was being carried out into what it described as a "officer-involved shooting," following protocols used "when deadly physical force is used." The FBI and state police said they had conducted "enforcement action" along the highway at around 4:25 p.m. local time (7:25 p.m. ET). Authorities would not confirm Finicum's death but his daughter Challice Finch told NBC News that she had been notified by another protester.


Finicum was a Mormon rancher from Arizona who had 11 children, 19 grandchildren and a wife of 23 years. During the occupation, the 54-year-old broke away from the rest of the group and set up a one-man camp on a chair outside the building, hunkered down under a sleeping bag, a tarpaulin, and clutching his rifle in the bitter January air. Finicum vowed three weeks ago that he would rather die than be taken into custody. "There are things more important than your life and freedom is one of them," he told MSNBC from his makeshift post. "I'm prepared to defend freedom."


Finch, one of Finicum's 11 kids, told NBC News late Tuesday the protesters "were all committed to not firing on federal agents." The group seized Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on January 2 in the wake of a protest in the nearby town of Burns against the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of setting fires on government land. They vowed to stay there until federally owned land was returned "back to the people."


In the early days of the occupation, Finicum hinted that he was keen for a swift end to the dispute.
"I need to get home," he said. "I got cows that are scattered and lost." Some of the protesters said that there had been negotiations with the FBI. Finicum said in an interview with The Oregonian newspaper a day before his death that "the tenor has changed, [law enforcement] have become more hardened." He added: "They're doing all the things that show they want to take some kinetic action against us, and we're saying, 'Why be so unfriendly?'"


According to Finch, the group was traveling to the town of John Day, where some of them had been due to appear at a public meeting Tuesday night. Five people were arrested, one of whom was injured and later discharged from hospital and taken into custody, according to a joint statement by the FBI and state police. Two were arrested in a separate but related incident and one person turned themselves in later Tuesday, it added. All the suspects face federal felony charges of conspiracy to impede federal officers from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats, authorities said. It was unclear how many protesters remained in the federal wildlife refuge. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown asked for "patience as officials continue pursuit of a swift and peaceful resolution."


The Bundys are sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a high-profile 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights. The other three highway arrests were Brian Cavalier, 44, of Bunkerville, Nevada; Shawna Cox, 59, of Kanab, Utah; and Ryan Waylen Payne, 32, of Anaconda, Montana. Joseph Donald O'Shaughnessy, 45, of Cottonwood, Arizona, and Peter Santilli, 50, of Cincinnati, were arrested later in separate but related incidents, the FBI said. Later Tuesday night, another member of the group, Jon Eric Ritzheimer, 32, turned himself in at the Peoria, Arizona, Police Department, the FBI said.

[Magda Hassan]

Pleased to hear they are no longer there oppressing the wildlife and birds. What a bunch of self obsessed selfish wankers. Got no claim to the land. If any one does it would be first nation people.

[Albert Doyle]

As with most things, this is probably an issue of fees for grazing rights. The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) vast areas of land in the west are used by cattle owners to graze their stock on a controlled basis. The issue is land use fees and limits. The source is modern day realities from pressure put on the environment by a system that refuses to recognize the damage its economic growth causes.

[Drew Phipps]

I put this thread in the justice forum to note the remarkable activity of the FBI in making a traffic stop, and then the subsequent fatal shootout. I did not intend to condone or disparage the standoff itself, or the merits of their position, else I'd have put the thread in the environment section.

[Albert Doyle]

Remember the name of the site Drew.

[Magda Hassan]

I put this thread in the justice forum to note the remarkable activity of the FBI in making a traffic stop, and then the subsequent fatal shootout.

Yes, that too. We've all been watching and wondering why after years of seeing black men and women being shot down like dogs the authorities tip toe around these precious petals. When they do eventually act it is for some traffic violation. Just bizarre.

[Drew Phipps]

Allegedly unedited video on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGxDWKrjPQ

I note there does appear to be some editing, the camera tracking appears to jump around.

So, there's no traffic offense to justify the stop, the dead guy is out of his car within 5 seconds of running off the road, with his hands up, and dead 10 seconds later. Remind me never to drive in Oregon.

[Lauren Johnson]

Looks like state sponsored murder to me.

https://www.facebook.com/bundyranch/vide...8/?fref=nf