FBI agent accused of covering up gunshots in Ore. encounter

PORTLAND, Ore. — A special agent with the elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team has been indicted and accused of trying to cover up the firing of gunshots during an encounter with a member of an armed group that occupied an Oregon wildlife refuge last year.

The indictment, filed last week and made public Wednesday, does not accuse Special Agent W. Joseph Astarita of shooting the occupier, but it is a public black eye for the FBI group, which the bureau has described as unparalleled in its lawenforcement capabilities.

At the height of the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon, authorities pulled over some of the group’s leaders as they traveled on a snowy highway on Jan. 26, 2016.

FBI agents and Oregon State Police troopers swarmed the group, and one of the occupiers — Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, a 54-year-old rancher who acted as the group’s spokesman — tried to drive away at high speed.

After nearly hitting an agent, Finicum veered off the road and into a snowy bank. Hewalked toward an officer, appearing to reach for his jacket, where officials say he was carrying a loaded 9mm handgun. State troopers opened fire and struck Finicum three times in the back, killing him.

Weeks later, authorities said they had deemed the shooting justified because the troopers feared for their lives. Oregon officials and the Justice Department’s inspector general announced that they were investigating the actions of FBI agents.