FBI tells Bundy group to leave after fatal shooting

Occupiers - Citizens for Constitutional Reform aka The Bundy Group - of an Oregon Federal Wildlife (photo by Getty)

Story by The Hill
Written by Timothy Cama

The FBI is telling the remaining occupiers of an Oregon federal wildlife to leave the area after its leaders were arrested in a shootout with police.

Federal and local officials announced early Wednesday morning that Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who has served as a spokesman for the group, was killed Tuesday night by police during a traffic stop that turned violent about 50 miles from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Law enforcement officials did not released Finicum’s name initially. He had stated previously that he’d prefer to die than be arrested, according to The Oregonian.

Six others, including self-styled militia leader Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan Bundy, both sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, were arrested, and Ryan Bundy was also shot. Two others were arrested elsewhere.

Sources told The Oregonian that Finicum and Ryan Bundy had refused to cooperate with the officers and tried to run and that Finicum brandished weapons.

The traffic stop was the first direct confrontation between the group and law enforcement since armed men took over the refuge Jan. 2. They are protesting the punishment of two men who set fire to nearby federal land, and they generally oppose federal land ownership and want the refuge given to private landowners.

But the occupation is not over. About 40 people remained at the refuge earlier this week, and few have taken up the FBI’s suggestion to leave, The Oregonian reported.

“The rest have decided they're going to hold their ground,” Gary Hunt, one of the occupiers, told the newspaper. Hunt, like nearly all of the occupiers, is not local.

Law enforcement officers have set up roadblocks surrounding the refuge near Burns, Ore. Previously, the group moved freely into and out of the property.

Calls for police to take action against the group have been increasing. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) has appealed directly to United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch to intervene.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/27/us/oregon-wildlife-refuge-siege-arrests/index.html