FBI confiscated witness video showing agents open fire on occupants of vehicle prior to LaVoy’s death

Intellihub| By Shepard Ambellas –February 14, 2016

HARNEY COUNTY, Ore. (INTELLIHUB) — It looks as the story has now taken a twist, after Shawna Cox, a witness to LaVoy Finicum’s death, came forth, exposing the fact that she filmed the entire event on video, which was soon after confiscated by the FBI.

Moreover, in a bombshell statement, Cox also said she feels the reason they were ambushed by authorities was because they had “many documents” in their possession which show the illegalities of area land grabs, such as the Hammond case, conducted by federal agencies.

According to Cox, Ryan Panye, LaVoy Finicum, and at least one other occupant took fire, “multiple shots,” as they approached the roadblock, however, luckily, most, if not all, of the bullets from the initial barrage were deflected, ether by the metal of the truck or the sharp angle of the windows to the direct line of fire.

We were “shot at,” Cox said. They fired at “the passenger side–Ryan Payne.”

“We got fired upon as soon as he [LaVoy] started around the vehicle–they hit the windows and then we had lasers all over us and the bullets were flying.” 

“At the time we turned and headed into the snow, that’s when it [the hail of bullets] started hitting the windshield.”

That’s when LaVoy immediately jumped out of the vehicle into deep snow with his hands raised high above his head.

“There were hundreds of shots [fired].”

Cox described the scene as if it was a war zone.

After Cox was taken into custody the FBI confiscated her camera and its content.

Cox said she “did not see any weapons” when they were on there way to the meeting and said she knows that LaVoy did not have a weapon in his hand.

The group was going to meet a group of people and a constitutional sheriff in a nearby county when they were ambushed.

FBI surrounds 4 remaining Oregon occupiers with armored vehicles

RT - FEBRUARY 11, 2016

Members of the FBI man an entry as Harney County residents protest the FBI's presence at the Burns Municipal Airport in Burns, Oregon © Jim Urquhart / Reuters

The FBI has surrounded the four remaining protesters occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, local media reported.

According to the Oregonian, the FBI has placed armored vehicles around the area where the occupiers are located.

“At this time, the FBI has moved to contain the remaining occupiers by placing agents at barricades both immediately in front of and behind the area where the occupiers are camping."

"Negotiations between the occupiers and the FBI continue. No shots have been fired,” the FBI said in the statement.

The FBI stated that the situation began when one of the remaining protesters had ridden an ATV beyond the barricades set up by the occupiers. The individual was spotted by the FBI, but as agents tried to approach the driver, he turned around and sped back to the refuge.

Those remaining at the refuge have been identified as David Fry, Jeff Banta, and Sean and Sandy Anderson, who are husband and wife.

The move by the FBI came on the 40th day of the Malheur occupation. It began when a group of armed ranchers and protesters took over the refuge headquarters to protest federal land management and express their anger over the arson convictions of two other ranchers under an anti-terror law.

In an audio live-stream of the standoff posted by activist Gavin Seim on YouTube, the occupiers debated how to proceed. The protesters invoked the Constitution numerous times and held prayers, while worrying over the possibility of the situation coming to a violent end.

READ MORE: Oregon grand jury indicts 16 wildlife refuge occupiers – prosecutors

“They killed LaVoy!” a protester said multiple times, referring to rancher LaVoy Finicum, who was fatally shot during a roadside confrontation between law enforcement and the occupiers.

That confrontation also led to the arrest of multiple protesters, including leader Ammon Bundy.

Ammon Bundy, other armed protesters at Oregon wildlife refuge, indicted

Fox News - FEBRUARY 4, 2016

The four remaining occupiers at an Oregon wildlife refuge all face charges, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

The indictment names a total of 16 defendants, including standoff leader Ammon Bundy and other occupiers who were arrested last week.

A federal grand jury charged all with felony conspiracy, accused of using intimidation to prevent federal officers from doing their work at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The armed holdouts have said they wouldn't leave until receiving assurances they wouldn't be charged.

The indictment says two conspirators traveled to the area in October to warn the local sheriff of "extreme civil unrest" if certain demands weren't met.

Authorities arrested 11 people last week on a criminal complaint charging them with felony conspiracy. They were accused of using intimidation to prevent federal officers from doing their work at the refuge in sparsely populated southeast Oregon.

In a criminal complaint, defendants have a right to a preliminary hearing in which they can question the arresting officer under oath about probable cause for the charges.

After an indictment, they are no longer entitled to such a proceeding.

The cancellation of preliminary hearings that had been scheduled for Wednesday dismayed attorneys for the accused.

Lisa Hay, who represents defendant Ryan Payne, said it appears prosecutors moved to scrap the hearings even before the indictment had been handed down. She was also annoyed that prosecutors presented the indictment to the judge and not to defense attorneys.

"That's an unusual thing and it's unfortunate in a case like this, where many of the people distrust the government to begin with," Hay said.

The occupation began Jan. 2, with the group demanding the federal government turn public lands over to local control. The remaining occupiers are David Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, a married couple from Riggins, Idaho.

The government is building a case to show the occupation was a threat to residents and federal employees. Prosecutors say the group was ready to use violence to hold on to the refuge.

Defense attorneys have said their clients engaged in civil disobedience and are being punished for political speech. They say the only use of force during the standoff was by police, who shot and killed occupier Robert "LaVoy" Finicum during a Jan. 26 traffic stop. Bundy and others were then taken into custody.

Federal authorities have released aerial video and said Finicum was going for a gun in his jacket pocket.

In a separate matter, an attorney for Shawna Cox -- a defendant allowed to return home to Utah as her case goes through the court system -- asked Wednesday for her client to be allowed to attend Finicum's funeral on Friday. The funeral is in the same town where Cox lives.

Judge Stewart denied the request.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

LAVOY FINNICUM: THE FBI’S DROP GUN

Infowars - FEBRUARY 3, 2016

The spokesman for the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon was shot nine times by the FBI.

It should be no surprise the FBI would shoot an unarmed man nine times.This is often their modus operandi, especially with individuals the national police state agency considers political enemies—and the band of constitutionalists at Malheur, no matter how misdirected or naive, were certainly considered enemies of the state.

Now it comes out that the gun the FBI said they retrieved from Finnicum’s body—a body so bullet-riddled it necessitated a closed coffin—was in fact stolen.

The Pacific Patriots Network did a search of the weapon’s serial number and discovered it was stolen, although this crucial fact is not being reported by an establishment media that has consistently portrayed Finnicum and the other activists at the refuge as dangerous terrorists.

The over the top murder of Finnicum and a subsequent video released by the FBI are intended to send a message to the patriot movement and constitutionalists.

The message: if you go up against the federal government, if you question its dictatorial and unconstitutional policies and if you actively resist or engage in behavior to draw attention to its pathological criminality, you will be executed, particularly if you provide the FBI with an opportunity, as Finnicum did when he traveled to a meeting unarmed to resolve the standoff.

THE TRUTH BEHIND FEDERAL LAND GRABS

David Knight & Kit Daniels | Infowars - FEBRUARY 3, 2016

IMAGE CREDIT: PUBLIC DOMAIN

Is the federal government so desperate to monopolize land that it’s literally burning down the forests they are supposed to manage?

Infowars interviewed Oregon logger Tad Houpt, with the Grant Co. Forest Commission, who had organized the meeting where Ammon Bundy, LaVoy Finicum and others were going to speak to 400 people and the Grant Co. Sheriff before Finicum was killed by the FBI and the other speakers were arrested.

“This last summer we had the biggest fire we’ve ever had here, 110,000 acres,” Houpt said. “I was one of the people who got burned out; close to 50 homes burnt.”

He believes this happened because the forests managed by the U.S. Forest Service are “a disaster.”

Houpt also mentioned there were “about 2 tons [per acre] of light fuels [dead trees & other organic matter] on the ground are known to be acceptable and the live trees will withstand the fire,” but he added that “some areas of the federally managed lands exceed 500 tons per acre of fuel on the ground,” i.e. 250 times the safe limit.

“I’m telling you this is intentional,” he said. “If a jet liner crashes there’s an immediate investigation into what caused that jet liner’s crash.”

“These fires are happening all over the western U.S. and there’s no investigation, they don’t even want to talk about what’s causing them and it’s their policies [that] are 100% causing these fires.”

And perpetuating the fire dangers and the resulting economic hardships are the BLM’s arbitrary rules, such as the ban on cutting trees greater than 21 inches in diameter — even if a tree is burned and dead.

Instead of providing lumber and livelihood for loggers, dead trees greater than 21 inches in diameter will be allowed to remain, increasing the fuel on the ground and the danger and intensity of future fires.

This is all part of Agenda 21, which is intended to force people out of rural areas and into large cities where they can be easily taxed and controlled.

Signed in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush and later phased in by President Bill Clinton, the United Nations Agenda 21 Sustainable Development program is based on communitarianism, which calls for government to eventually take control of all land use without leaving any decision making in the hands of private property owners.

“It is assumed that people are not good stewards of their land and the government will do a better job if they are in control,” Agenda 21 expert Rosa Koire wrote, who is a Californian Democrat and the author of Behind The Green Mask: U.N. Agenda 21. “Individual rights in general are to give way to the needs of communities as determined by the governing body.”

And if you already live in an urban area, you may already be familiar with some key aspects of Agenda 21:

– The accelerated implementation of toll roads, especially toll roads that discourage driving by increasing prices for traveling alone or for driving in “congested” areas

– The development of expensive and inefficient public rail systems in cities in order to increase centralized government control while also reducing the use of private transportation

– Utilities monitored by “Smart Meters” which can be controlled remotely by public utility companies

– The purposeful lack of easy freeway access in cities so residents remain close to their neighborhoods

Another good example of how Agenda 21 is currently being implemented is to look at the mass construction of “mixed use” condos which feature retail stores on the ground floor with several residential floors above.

These buildings are designed to restrict people from traveling by placing businesses within walking distance – and, interestingly, medieval serfs were likewise not able to travel long distances.

And, despite being fiction, the megacities in the comic series Judge Dredd feature many planned aspects of Agenda 21, a scary scenario even if real cities never completely match these fictional counterparts.

The overall intent of Agenda 21 is to expand government power at the expense of individual liberties by moving the population out of rural areas and packing them into major cities where they are more dependent on city infrastructure controlled by the government.

While Agenda 21 proponents constantly harp that the program is “voluntary,” it is a moot point when so many cities are already implementing Agenda 21 which clearly benefits the government at the expense of its citizens.

“The plan is to restrict your choices, limit your funds, narrow your freedoms and take away your voice,” Koire added.

FBI Releases Video Of Shooting Death Of Oregon Occupier

Zero Hedge | By Tyler Durden | January 28, 2016

On Tuesday, the FBI and state troopers arrested Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan, and several others on their way to a speaking event some 20 miles north of Burns, Oregon.

Robert “LaVoy” Finicum - the self-styled “spokesperson” for the militiamen occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge - was shot and killed by authorities in the arrests.

In the wake of Finicum’s death there were conflicting accounts as to what exactly led police to shoot the 55-year-old Arizona rancher. Some suggested he was shot while his hands were in the air.

On Thursday, the FBI sought to dispel any misconceptions by releasing the following footage of the incident.

Edited version:

Full version:

While there's no sound and the video is shot from an FBI plane making it difficult to discern exactly what happened, it certainly appears as though Finicum reaches into his pocket - twice.

It's true that he emerges from the truck (which had careened into a snow bank after swerving to avoid a police roadblock) with his hands raised, but for whatever reason, he reaches for his hip on two seperate occasions. The second time he reaches down, police open fire. "As state troopers trained their guns on Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum along a secluded eastern Oregon highway, he reached twice for a pocket that police say contained a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun," The Oregonian writes. "That's when they fatally shot Finicum, a video released Thursday by the FBI appears to show." Here's more:

It began as Oregon State Police officers and FBI agents stopped a Jeep and a white pickup as they traveled north on U.S. 395 toward John Day.

Finicum, an Arizona foster parent and rancher who acted as a spokesman for the occupation, drove the truck. It and the Jeep carried key leaders of the occupation that began Jan. 2. They were headed to a community meeting in John Day, with plans to spread their message against federal land control.

Instead, at 4:26 p.m., they were pulled over about 20 miles north of Burns.

Three occupants of the Jeep -- including Ammon Bundy, the son of controversial Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and a leader of the refuge takeover – got out.

In another frame, the video shows another occupation leader, Ryan Payne, getting out of the truck driven by Finicum, with his hands up. Three others remained in the pickup with Finicum, Greg Bretzing, a special agent with the FBI said.

As police stood by with guns trained on the truck, Payne was arrested. Finicum and his passengers remained in the idle truck for about four more minutes as officers hollered for them to surrender, Bretzing said.

That period was blacked out in the [edited] video, which resumed with footage of Finicum's truck speeding away from the scene. As officers trailed in a black SUV and fired shots at the truck, it rounded two bends in the road, then rammed into a snowbank to avoid a police roadblock.

As it came to a stop, the truck nearly hit an officer who was standing alongside the road.

His hands raised, Finicum ran out of the car and toward the snowbank, yelling at police. Then, as police approached with guns drawn, he reached toward the left side of his waist. He began to put his hands back up, then reached down again.

Bretzing said Finicum was reaching toward a jacket pocket that contained a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun.

The video shows Finicum being shot, then falling on his back. He raised his arm, then lay still.

"Actions have consequences," the FBI said, and "as the video clearly shows, it was a reckless action."

“On at least two occasions, Finicum reaches his right hand toward a pocket on the left inside portion of his jacket. He did have a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic handgun in that pocket,” special agent Bretzing continued.

There were two loaded .233 semi-automatic rifles and one loaded .38 special in the truck. Although police wouldn't specify how many times they shot Finicum, they did say it was "in the single digits." He received medical attention once all of the truck's occupants had surrendered.

Finicum's death prompted calls from other armed militias for members to go by the "thousands" to Harney County where five occupiers remain holed up in the bird sanctuary.

Four of the five are free to go, while one is facing charges. The group says they'll leave if those charges are dropped.

“If they’re not willing to do that, we’re all just kind of willing to stay here and see what happens," one of the holdouts said. "Are they really going to kill five people for refusing to drop a charge on a man?”

We don't know, but based on the video shown above, it's probably not a risk the men should take.

EYEWITNESS: OREGON MILITIAMAN MURDERED BY COPS; “HE HAD HIS HANDS IN THE AIR”

Paul Joseph Watson | Infowars | JANUARY 27, 2016

The daughter of LaVoy Finicum, the Oregon militiaman shot dead by police during a traffic stop on Highway 395 yesterday, claims that her father was “murdered” execution-style with his hands in the air, an account backed up by an eyewitness to the incident.

Protesters involved in the weeks-long occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, including leader Ammon Bundy, were apprehended by law enforcement as they traveled to the city of John Day to attend a community meeting set up by local residents.

“Everyone obeyed orders to surrender except two people: LaVoy Finicum and Bundy’s brother, Ryan Bundy,” a law enforcement official told CNN.


Media reports about the incident simply state that “shots were fired,” although Finicum’s daughter Thara Lynn Tenney posted a message on her Facebook page last night asserting that her father had already surrendered before he was gunned down.

“I want the world to know how my father was murdered today. His hands were in the air and he was shot in the face by the American authorities. Ammon Bundy reported there are 6 witnesses to this evil,” wrote Tenney.

I want the world to know how my father was murdered today. His hands were in the air and he was shot in the face by the American authorities. Ammon Bundy reported there are 6 witnesses to this evil.
Posted by Thara Tenney on Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Her testimony was echoed by another eyewitness, Victoria Sharp, who was in the car with Finicum when the group were pulled over by cops and federal agents.

Sharp claims that Finicum put his hands out of the car window and asked the police to allow the women to leave the car.

“They shot at him, but they missed him,” said Sharp, adding that the group then attempted to drive away in the car but were shot at again by police.

“When we crashed and stopped for a second, he got out of the car, he had his hands in the air, he’s like ‘just shoot me then’….and they did, they shot him dead,” said Sharp.

“He was just walking, with his hands in the air, I swear to God, and they shot him dead and after he was down on the ground, shot him three more times,” said Sharp, adding that the vehicle was again “bombarded with bullets” as well as tear gas rounds.

Sharp says that the group tried to “find something white” so they could display it as a sign of surrender. She challenges news reports that only six shots were fired, asserting, “they shot at least 120 shots altogether.”

Sharp also claims that none of the individuals in the car pulled out a gun at any point and that the incident was an “ambush” with “FBI snipers in the trees” surrounding the vehicle.

“They had their hands out of the window to show they were not firing, nothing, we showed no aggression at all,” said Sharp.

Protesters who remain at the occupied federal building have vowed to continue their stance as authorities continue to insist they want a “peaceful” resolution to the matter.