Oregon Shooting Video May Galvanize, Incite Antigovernment Fringe
After the FBI releases a video of the shooting of LaVoy Finicum聽antigovernment extremists release a call to action
The , showing the fatal shooting of Oregon refuge occupier LaVoy Finicum, was intended to dispel 鈥渋naccurate and inflammatory鈥 accounts spreading on social media and in extremist circles.
But there are already indications the release may be used as a springboard for the extremist movement to make the 54-year-old Arizona rancher and foster parent a new聽icon for the antigovernment movement, much like Gordon Kahl became in the 1980s and聽Vicki Weaver in the 1990s.
A Pacific Northwest militia group , saying it 鈥渃ondemns the violent action taken by the Harney County Sheriff's Department along with the FBI in the shooting death of Mr. Lavoy Finicum.鈥
The statement released by the Pacific Patriots Network urged 鈥渁ll Americans to come to Burns, Ore., to come to the aid of the American people standing against these violent, malicious and deceitful tactics.鈥
鈥淐ome stand together with other Americans, and express our Constitutional right to PEACEFULLY assemble and air our grievances,鈥 the statement said.聽Its release came as FBI negotiators continued to work around-the-clock to convince four heavily armed occupiers remaining in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns to peacefully surrender.
The four remaining holdouts have been identified in various media accounts as David Fry, of Cincinnati; Jeff Banta, of Elko, Nev., and Sean and Sandy Anderson, a married couple from Riggins, Idaho.聽They posted a YouTube video Thursday entitled 鈥淗usband and Wife 鈥 Maybe Last Dance?鈥 as they danced to a sad-sounding country-western tune outside the refuge聽headquarters complex as FBI agents tightened their perimeter around the occupiers.
鈥淭hey want guarantees they won鈥檛 be arrested,鈥 FBI regional chief Greg Bretzing told reporters late Thursday at a press conference where the bureau took the unusual step of releasing evidence video 48 hours after the arrests and fatal shooting.聽There were reports that an arrest warrant had been issued for at least one of the聽four remaining holdouts.聽By continuing to defy the FBI, the others, too, may now聽be subject to arrest.
Bretzing said senior FBI officials believed 鈥渋t was incumbent on us鈥 to release the video and make copies available on YouTube and for downloading by every American.
鈥淲e know there are various versions of what occurred during this event -- most inaccurate, some inflammatory,鈥 said Bretzing, the special agent in charge for Oregon. 鈥淭o that end, we want to do what we can to lay out an honest and unfiltered view of what happened and how it happened.鈥
Even before the release of the FBI video, the shooting of Finicum was sparking assorted, substantially unverified versions of what聽occurred.
Conflicting accounts of how Finicum died have fueled rumors and rage, with some calling his death unjustified while others saying Finicum resisted arrest or wanted to become a martyr via 鈥渃op-assisted suicide.鈥澛燨ne account on social media suggested Finicum was shot while his hands were in the air.聽In another, he was charging at officers.聽In still another, he was shot in the head while on his knees.
The reports sparked outcry from antigovernment and militia groups who sympathize with the occupiers or with their message. The leader of the Pacific Patriots Network militia group issued a call Thursday for "thousands" of its members to descend upon Harney County to pressure the FBI into leaving.聽
鈥淭his is NOT a man reaching for a gun.聽THIS is a man with his hands up being executed because he is a patriot,鈥 a posting on the Bundy Ranch Facebook page said. The page is聽where associates and supporters of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy follow activities that began with his April 2014 militia standoff with federal agents at Bunkerville, Nev.
鈥淟aVoy was murdered in cold blood,鈥 said another post on the Bundy Facebook page.聽The page also announced that a viewing and funeral for Finicum has been scheduled for next Friday at a Latter Day Saints church in Kanab, Utah, where a large turnout is expected.
The Pacific Patriots Network statement and many other social media posts by assorted antigovernment individuals and groups have contained factual inaccuracies about the arrests and shooting that can be quickly unbolted.
For example, the Harney County sheriff鈥檚 department deputies actually weren鈥檛 involved on scene in Tuesday鈥檚 arrest of Ammon Bundy and seven other leaders as they drove in a white pickup and a Jeep from the Malheur national Wildlife Refuge, north on U.S. Highway 395, with two FBI surveillance planes tracking their movements.
鈥淔BI agents and Oregon State Police troopers were involved in this operation,鈥 Bretzing said.聽It was only OSP troopers, not FBI agents, who 鈥渦tilized deadly force due to their proximity to LaVoy Finicum as the situation unfolded,鈥 he said.
The Pacific Patriots statement called for Oregon State Police to immediately arrest 鈥渢he FBI special agent in charge along with all agents and LEO involved in the shooting death of Lavoy Finicum.鈥
In compliance with Oregon law, the shooting death of Finicum by state police is being investigated by Deschutes County Major Incident Team which will issue a report for review by a county prosecutor.
In releasing the video, the FBI chief also gave a narrative detailing the arrests of Ammon Bundy and the others.聽Two FBI aircraft were in the air watching the occupiers鈥 caravan and FBI agents 鈥 likely members of its elite Hostage Rescue Team 鈥 lie聽in wait in vehicles hidden in the forested off-roads connecting the snowy, mountainous highway.聽
The tactical operation -- planned to arrest the leaders of the illegal refuge occupation away from the facility, in a remote area --聽 clearly appeared to have been carefully planned by federal agents who train daily to carry out just such operations.
The aerial video shows a white pickup, driven by Finicum, in the lead, north-bound聽on U.S. 395, followed by a Jeep.
FBI and Oregon State Police vehicles, with the lights flashing, pull in behind the Jeep which 鈥渜uickly pulls to a stop while the white truck -- driven by LaVoy Finicum -- continues some distance up the road,鈥 Bretzing said as the video played.
In short order, the three occupants of the Jeep complied聽with verbal commands from officers and exited the vehicle.聽Ammon Bundy and Ryan Payne were taken into custody without incident.聽The driver, who the FBI declined to identify, later posted a video identifying himself as Mark McConnell, disputing reports from Bundy family members and others that Finicum was shot while on his knees with his hands raised.
As those three men were being detained, Ryan Payne exited through聽a backseat door of Finicum鈥檚 white pickup, but he and two other occupants, Ryan Bundy and Shawna Cox, refused orders to step out of the vehicle, Bretzing said.
At that point, Finicum drove off at a high聽rate of speed with his two passengers, only to encounter other FBI and OSP vehicles and agents who had deployed a spike-strip across the highway.聽Finicum avoided the spike-strip and attempted to聽drive around the law enforcement vehicles blocking the highway, but his truck became stuck in a snow bank after narrowly missing an FBI agent, Bretzing said.
Finicum jumped out of the driver鈥檚 seat of the white truck and initially appeared to have his hands raised as he continues walking away from the vehicle as two OSP officers approached, their handguns drawn, from different angles.
鈥淥n at least two occasions, Finicum reaches his right hand toward a pocket on the left inside portion of his jacket,鈥 the FBI official said. 鈥淎t this time, OSP troopers shot Finicum.鈥
Bretzing wouldn鈥檛 disclose聽how many shots were fired, only that it 鈥渨as in the single digits.鈥澛營t appears shots were fired by two OSP officers. After he was fatally shot, officers found a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun in Finicum鈥檚 left jacket pocket, the FBI official said.
After the shooting, it took FBI agents and OSP officers approximately another 10 minutes to convince the three passengers in Finicum鈥檚 truck to聽 exit and surrender. That occurred after agents fired noisy 鈥渇lash-bang鈥 device and聽 鈥淥C鈥 pepper spray gas into the vehicle, Bretzing said.
Ryan Bundy and Shawna Cox were arrested without further incident, as was a young woman passenger whose identity and connection with the occupiers wasn鈥檛 released by the FBI.
Inside the pickup, agents later recovered two .223 caliber assault-style rifles and a .38 revolver 鈥 all loaded with ammunition, Bretzing said.
鈥淎ctions have consequences,鈥 Bretzing said in responding to a few media questions. 鈥淎s the video clearly shows, it was a reckless action that resulted in consequences you have seen here today.鈥