Oregon militia spokesman LaVoy Finicum has been shot dead after a traffic stop escalated into a shoot-out that saw Ryan Bundy wounded and eight leaders of the occupation movement arrested.
The group's leader Ammon Bundy was among the militiamen arrested during the encounter on Tuesday afternoon as they drove to attend a community meeting in the neighboring town.
It is the climax of a tense stand-off between federal agents and the activists more than three weeks after they took over a government building in Burns, Oregon, to protest two ranchers being jailed.
According to local media, shots were fired within minutes of the traffic stop, killing Finicum and wounding 43-year-old Ryan Bundy.
It is not clear who opened fire first.
Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and three other leaders of the occupation - Ryan Payne, 32; Brian Cavalier, 44, and Shawna Cox, 59 - were charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers,Oregon Live reports.
Officials would not confirm the identity of the militiaman shot dead. However, Finicum's daughter Arianna Finicum Brown, 26, confirmed her father's death to The Oregonian, saying 'he would never ever want to hurt somebody, but he does believe in defending freedom and he knew the risks involved.'
Nevada state Rep Michele Fiore told the paper Ammon Bundy called his wife from the back of the police vehicle after his arrest and told her that Finicum was cooperating with the authorities when he was shot. However, other sources said that he resisted arrest.
In an interview with MSNBC three weeks ago, Finicum declared that he would rather die than face arrest.
'There are things more important than your life and freedom is one of them,' he said at the time. 'I'm prepared to defend freedom.'
He sounded a similar note when speaking to CNN earlier this month.
'I'm just not going to prison,' Finicum said. 'Look at the stars. There's no way I'm going to sit in a concrete cell where I can't see the stars and roll out my bedroll on the ground.
'I want to be able to get up in the morning and throw my saddle on my horse and go check on my cows. It's OK. I've lived a good life. God's been gracious to me.'
Finicum, a Mormon rancher from Arizona, was a father of 11 and grandfather of 19 who was married to his wife, Jeanette, for 23 years.
His daughter Challice Finch told NBC News after the deadly standoff that her father and his fellow protesters were 'all committed to not firing on federal agents.'
Speaking to The Oregonian on the eve of his death, LaVoy Finicum noted that law enforcement officials 'have become more hardened' as of late.
'They're doing all the things that show they want to take some kinetic action against us, and we're saying, "Why be so unfriendly?"' the militia spokesman told the paper.
WHO WAS LAVOY FINICUM?
LaVoy Finicum, 55, of northern Arizona, has been the right-hand man to the occupation's leader Ammon Bundy since the stand-off began on January 2.
Acting as spokesman for the group, he gave numerous press conferences to communicate their position.
At one point he personally climbed up a pole to dismantle surveillance cameras in an apparent show of defiance against the government.
But he has not always held such a strong anti-government stance.
Last year, he told the St George News that he complied with federal land controls until Cliven Bundy's stand-off in Nevada in 2014.
The episode, he said, struck a chord with him.
He joined the Bundys and 'did a lot of soul-searching' until he 'realized that Cliven Bundy was standing on a very strong constitutional principle—and yet, here I was continuing to pay a grazing fee to the BLM.'
Finicum's wife of 23 years recently arrived in Oregon, traveling up from Arizona, to celebrate his 56th birthday.
Beyond life as a militiaman and rancher, Finicum was a father of 11 and grandfather of 23 who also found time to write a novel, Only By Blood And Suffering, about a time when guns are no more, cars have stopped working, the market has imploded, and the Chinese control everything.
Joseph O'Shaughnessy, 45, and Peter Santilli, 50, were arrested in Burns soon after the traffic stop and shoot-out.
An eighth group member, Jon Ritzheimer, 32, was arrested in Peoria, Arizona, after turning himself in to the police department, Fox reported.
All of those arrested face federal charges of conspiracy to use force, intimidation or threats to impede federal officers from discharging their duties, the FBI said.
The hospital where Ryan Bundy and LaVoy Finicum were taken, St Charles Medical Center, was placed on lockdown in the wake of the shootout.
Some 25 miles of Highway 395 was shut down in both directions following the incident, a dispatcher for the state department of transportation said.
It was unclear how many people remained in the buildings at the refuge in the wake of the shootout. Late Tuesday night there was no obvious police presence there and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown asked for 'patience as officials continue pursuit of a swift and peaceful resolution.'
Brand Thornton, one of Bundy's supporters, said he left the refuge Monday and wasn't sure what those remaining would do.
'The entire leadership is gone,' he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. 'I wouldn't blame any of them for leaving.'
Thornton called the arrests 'a dirty trick' by law enforcement.
According to Oregon Live, the leaders had been en route to John Day - 70 miles from Burns - to appear as guest speakers at a meeting with hundreds of local residents.
The crowd was informed the group would not be able to make it to the event after the dramatic traffic stop.
Frustrated local and state officials have been increasingly urging the FBI to do something to resolve the situation.
Bundy and his group have held frequent news conferences at the site, traveled to meet with sympathizers and others to espouse their views and some even attended a community meeting last week, where local residents shouted at them to leave.
Federal authorities have taken a hands-off approach so far and say they want a peaceful resolution.
Bundy has been in contact with an FBI negotiator and local law enforcement.
On Friday, Bundy went to the Burns Municipal Airport, where the FBI has set up a staging area, and met briefly with a federal agent.
Bundy left because the agent wouldn't talk with him in front of the media. Sieges by federal authorities in the early 1990s led to deadly standoffs in at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas.
The group took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on January 2 after a peaceful protest in nearby Burns, Oregon, over the conviction of two local ranchers on arson charges.
Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.
The two were convicted three years ago and served time — the father three months, the son one year.
But in October, a federal judge in Oregon ruled their terms were too short under U.S. law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each. Among the demands by the Bundy group is for the Hammonds to be released.
The alleged arrests on Tuesday come after an Army veteran was arrested for a DUI while he was heading to join the militia occupying federal land in Oregon.
Joseph Arthur Stetson, 54, was caught on camera threatening to kill cops on Monday as he was driving to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
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