Leaders of Occupation at Refuge in Oregon Arrested; 1 Killed, Others Urged to Leave
Leaders of occupation at refuge in Oregon arrested; 1 killed, others urged to leave
After an exchange of gunfire that left one man dead and another injured, the two brothers who orchestrated the armed occupation of a remote central Oregon wildlife refuge were taken into custody along with six of their followers Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Oregonian reported that police had set up roadblocks around the occupied refuge and were urging those inside to leave. It appeared that few took up the offer, the Oregon paper reported: as of midnight Pacific Time, the lights were still on and several people remained inside.
The Oregonian said that a convoy of police rigs, passenger cars and armored vehicles was seen driving south on Oregon 205, past the turn-off for the refuge. Other convoys were also reported in the area.
The Tuesday encounter with police on a frozen stretch of highway north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, where a small cast of gun-toting, cowboy hat and camouflage-wearing anti-government activists had been camped out for weeks, was a dramatic break in the the tense, three-week standoff with local and federal authorities — at least, for leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy.
Other participants in the siege remained at the refuge, even as they received word that their de facto spokesperson, LaVoy Finicum, had been killed in the confrontation with police and that eight other occupiers were either arrested or turned themselves in. Authorities did not release the names of man killed or the person wounded, reported by the Oregonian to be Ryan Bundy.
Gary Hunt, a board member of a militia network known as Operation Mutual Defense who arrived Sunday from California to support the occupiers, told the Oregonian that those still in the compound “have decided they’re going to hold their ground.” But there is some confusion about who is leading the occupation now that Ammon Bundy is under arrest, he added.
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Leaders of occupation at refuge in Oregon arrested; 1 killed, others urged to leave
After an exchange of gunfire that left one man dead and another injured, the two brothers who orchestrated the armed occupation of a remote central Oregon wildlife refuge were taken into custody along with six of their followers Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Oregonian reported that police had set up roadblocks around the occupied refuge and were urging those inside to leave. It appeared that few took up the offer, the Oregon paper reported: as of midnight Pacific Time, the lights were still on and several people remained inside.
The Oregonian said that a convoy of police rigs, passenger cars and armored vehicles was seen driving south on Oregon 205, past the turn-off for the refuge. Other convoys were also reported in the area.
The Tuesday encounter with police on a frozen stretch of highway north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, where a small cast of gun-toting, cowboy hat and camouflage-wearing anti-government activists had been camped out for weeks, was a dramatic break in the the tense, three-week standoff with local and federal authorities — at least, for leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy.
Other participants in the siege remained at the refuge, even as they received word that their de facto spokesperson, LaVoy Finicum, had been killed in the confrontation with police and that eight other occupiers were either arrested or turned themselves in. Authorities did not release the names of man killed or the person wounded, reported by the Oregonian to be Ryan Bundy.
Gary Hunt, a board member of a militia network known as Operation Mutual Defense who arrived Sunday from California to support the occupiers, told the Oregonian that those still in the compound “have decided they’re going to hold their ground.” But there is some confusion about who is leading the occupation now that Ammon Bundy is under arrest, he added.
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