BURNS, Ore. —The FBI released video Thursday of state police officers fatally shooting Arizona rancher Robert "LaVoy"Finicum, one of the armed Oregon protesters who took over a remote wildlife refuge as a sign of protest against government land-grabbing and over-reaching.
Finicum, 54, died Tuesday during the arrest of occupation ringleader Ammon Bundy and others during a traffic stop near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. His death was captured on video taken from what an official described as an FBI plane, which watched from above as Finicum, in a white truck, was pursued and ultimately confronted and killed by Oregon State Police officers.
"I want to caution you that the video does show the shooting death of LaVoy Finicum," said Greg Bretzing, the special agent in charge of the FBI field office in Portland. "We realize that viewing that piece of the video will be upsetting to some people, but we feel that it is necessary to show the whole thing unedited in the interest of transparency."
He said it was "incumbent" on law enforcement to show the video of Finicum, who he said behaved recklessly and made a motion toward a gun in his coat pocket.
Supporters of the militants who took over the refuge had claimed Finicum was gunned down in cold blood and have used his death as an anti-government rallying cry. The FBI released the video to allay public concerns over "inflammatory" accounts of the shooting, Bretzing said.
The sequence of events
Bretzing, describing the sequence of events,said the truck was first pulled over by officers and that one man, Ryan Payne, exited the truck and was arrested.
But the truck then sped away from officers and drove until reaching a roadblock. Finicum, who was driving, ran the truck into a snowbank beside the road, exited the vehicle andwas ordered by officers to surrender, Bretzing said.
CAUTION: Video contains graphic images.
"Finicum leaves the truck and steps through the snow," Bretzing said. "Agents and troopers on scene had information that Finicum and others would be armed. 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. At this time, OSP troopers shot Finicum."
Finicum's ex-wife reacts
Finicum's supporters and family membersanxiously awaited release of the video.
“There is some controversy about what he did and what the other side (police) did,” Kelly Whatcott, Finicum's ex-wife, said by phone Thursday evening.
Whatcott had not yet seen the video but planned to watch it. Her adult children, some of whom traveled to Burns, Ore., to support their father, are desperate for answers about what happened on the snow-lined highway.
“I am still in shock that it happened,” said Whatcott, a school counselor. “That is one of the first stages of grief. You really don’t believe it.”
According to Bretzing's remarks released by the FBI, beyond Payne, three other people surrendered from inside the truck after Finicum's shooting:
- Ryan Bundy, Ammon Bundy's brother
- Shawna Cox
- Another woman who was not arrested and was not identified.
Another vehicle traveling behind the truck contained three people:
- Ammon Bundy
- Brian Cavalier
- Another person who was not charged or named.
Occupiers remain
On Wednesday, Bundy urged his followers to leave the refuge, saying the fight "is ours for now in the courts. Please go home." The protesters had been holed up at the refuge for more than three weeks, protesting what they say is federal tyranny and government land-grabbing in the nation’s West.
The FBI said it had been operating checkpoints to detain people who had left the occupation, so far releasing six and arresting three.
Agents believe four other people remain inside the wildlife refuge.
Social-media reaction
While Whatcott withheld judgment on the circ*mstances of her ex-husband's death, debate raged Thursday night on social-media sitesabout whether the state-patrol officer's shooting was justified.
On a Facebook page called Citizens for Constitutional Freedom Support Group, a post that included the video attracted dozens of comments and hundreds of shares. People were quick to sum up what they believe happened on the snowbank off U.S.395.
Several used terms like"cold blooded" and "murder" to describe the events captured on the aerial video, while others sided with police version of events. One commenter said Finicum appeared to reach for something in his jacket but said he should have complied with officers' orders.
The raw videoshowed several flashes coming from officers who were in position along patrol vehicles. Law enforcementdeployed "flash bangs to disorient any other armed occupants,"Bretzing said. Officers also fired pepper spray-like projectiles.
Whatcott said she has questioned whether her children who went to Oregon were unnecessarily put in harm's way.
"When I found out my kidswere going, it made me nervous that they would even be around that,"Whatcott said.
Reporter Ken Alltucker of azcentral.com contributed to this article.
