Bundy: “Please stand down”
burns, ore. » Aday after eight members of an armed anti- government group were arrested, their jailed leader on Wednesday urged the handful of remaining militants to abandon the Oregon wildlife refuge they have occupied for more than three weeks and where they are now surrounded by federal agents.
After militant leader Ammon Bundy made his first court appearance in Portland on Wednesday, his attorney, Mike Arnold, read this statement from his client: “Please stand down. Go home, and hug your families. This fight is now in the courts.”
It was unclear whether the Bundy followers still holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns were ready to heed his advice. Meanwhile, details began to emerge about the confrontation Tuesday on a remote highway that resulted in the arrest of Bundy and other leading figures in the group of occupiers and in the death of militant Robert Finicum.
Bundy followers gave conflicting accounts of how Finicum died. One said Finicum charged at FBI agents, who then shot him. Amember of the Bundy family said Finicum did nothing to provoke the agents.
An Oregon manwho says he witnessed the shootout says he heard about a halfdozen shots but didn’t see anyone get hit. He said the shooting happened quickly — over inmaybe 12 to 15 seconds. Raymond Doherty told KOIN- TV that he was about 100 feet back and couldn’t seewho specifically was shooting. But, he added, “I saw them shooting at each other.”
AlsoWednesday, a federal judge in Portland unsealed a criminal complaint that said the armed group had explosives and nightvision goggles and that it was prepared to fight.
Someone told authorities about the equipment Jan. 2, when the group took over the wildlife refuge, according to the document.
Bundy and the seven others are charged with felony counts of “conspiracy to impede officers of the United States fromtheir official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.”
The criminal complaint stresses that point. It states that the 16 employees at the wildlife refuge “have been prevented from reporting to work because of threats of violence posed by the defendants and others occupying the property.”
Federal law officials and Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward held a news conference Wednesday in which they called on the rest of the occupiers to go home. There is a huge law enforcement presence in the region, and the FBI has now set up checkpoints outside the refuge.
FBI agent Greg Bretzing said people could leave through checkpoints “where they will be identified.” He did not saywhether any of them face arrest.
Bretzing also defended the FBI- led operation that resulted in the arrest of Bundy and other leaders, and in the death of Finicum. “I will say that the armed occupierswere given ample opportunities to leave peacefully,” he said.