In the first official press briefing since Tuesday's incident, officials are instead seeking to lay the blame for the bloodshed at the feet of Ammon Bundy and his co-occupiers. Authorities also say they'd tried to carry out an arrest "out of harms way of the citizens of this county."
"The armed occupiers have been given ample opportunity to leave the refuge peacefully," Greg Bretzing, the special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon, told reporters at a news conference at 11 am. (His written statement can be found here.) Bretzing called the federal response to the occupation—which continues, despite the arrests of the most prominent militants—"very deliberate and measured. ""They have been given the opportunity to return to their families an work through the legal process to air their grievances."
At least they had been given that opportunity. Since federal agents and state police swooped in on two cars carrying occupiers yesterday on US Route 395, the path out of Malheur looks bumpy for remaining occupiers (it's unclear how many there are). Bretzing noted that roadblocks and checkpoints have been set up on the roads to and from the federally owned bird sanctuary.
"If the people at the refuge want to leave, they are free to do so through the checkpoints, where they will be identified," Bretzing said. He didn't note whether or not the FBI would look to make additional arrests, but that certainly seems possible. Authorities have targeted militants involved with the occupation even when they're out of state, as was the case with Jon Ritzheimer, who was arrested in Arizona yesterday in connection with his involvement.
Bretzing spoke alongside US Attorney for Oregon Bill Williams and Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward, but none of the men offered many new details about yesterday's shooting, or what precipitated it. They've also not officially identified the man who was killed in the altercation, though it's widely understood to be an Arizona rancher named LaVoy Finicum. Finicum's daughter has confirmed the death to news outlets.
Bretzing cited an "ongoing investigation" as his reason for not releasing details, and said a medical examiner would identify the deceased at some point in the future.
In the absence of a detailed version of events from authorities, several people who say they witnessed the altercation have been making their renditions heard. Here’s one account—purportedly from an 18-year-old woman named Victoria Sharp who says she was with Finicum and others when they were pulled over.
Sharp says Finicum refused to get out of his vehicle after initially being stopped. Saying he was going to speak to the sheriff, Finicum drove off. Sharp says he got out of the vehicle when he encountered a road block down the highway, and was walking toward agents/officers with his hands up when he was shot.
In total, eight people were arrested yesterday in connection with the occupation. Aside from five arrests during the traffic stop (Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Brian Cavalier, Shawna Cox, and Ryan Payne), Ritzheimer turned himself in in Arizona, and two people, Joseph O'Shaughnessy and occupier sympathizer Pete Santilli were arrested in Burns.
At this morning's news conference, Harney County Sheriff Ward said he'd been trying to defuse the volatile situation with the militants since November 5th, "when several of the individuals arrested yesterday came into my office. They had ultimatums that I couldn't meet. I'm here to uphold the law."
As has been widely reported, Bundy and his ilk first came to Harney County in an attempt to stop the federal government from imprisoning a pair of ranchers named Dwight and Stephen Hammond. That November 5 meeting Ward described would have occurred nearly two months before the militants overtook unoccupied buildings at the wildlife refuge on January 2. Their demands had since morphed into a call for the federal government to abandon its land holdings in Harney County, and for those public resources to be doled out for private use.
"I'm disappointed that a traffic stop yesterday that was supposed to bring peaceful resolution to this ended badly," Ward said. "We all make choices in life. Sometimes our choices go bad."
WIlliams, the states US attorney, didn't offer much new information. He made clear that Bundy and other arrestees will be arraigned this afternoon. Ritzheimer will be brought to Oregon in the near future to face his charges. All the the defendants face a felony charge of "conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats."
