‘Leave us alone’ – people in Oregon town tired of standoff

Tony Atencio of Burns, Oregon, holds a photo of rancher Robert “LaVoy” Finicum at a rally against Finnicum’s slaying by law enforcement officers and the presence of numerous heavily armed law enforcement officers at the standoff in Burns, Oregon, on Saturday.

A vigil was held in Washington City Monday evening for a rancher who was killed in OR last week during a standoff at a federal wildlife refuge.

But backers of the anti-government standoff also turned out by the hundreds and made clear they would not back down. A self-styled patriot group from Idaho organized the protest backing the occupation.

It has since led to the arrest of the occupation leader and others and the fatal police shooting of one group member during a confrontation with authorities. Finicum, the armed anti-government protester who had often spoken of defending freedom with his life, forfeited it right there on the side of a snowy country road.

The protests lasted about four hours at full throttle, dwindling only in the fifth hour to a handful of people.

County officials, including Sheriff Dave Ward, watched the spectacle from a second-story window in the courthouse. Many signs – on both sides – featured his name.

“There are no conditions I could impose that would ensure the safety of the community”. “Please stand down. Go home and hug your families”. The video has no audio, so it’s impossible to know who said what, but at least two officers or agents had their weapons pointed at Finicum, who raises his arms, then seems to reach down for something, and repeats that sequence before he’s shot.

“They just want to separate us and get us all home so they can pick us off one by one at our houses without being stuck together as a group with guns”, the man said.

Jennifer Williams, who owns a small ranch outside of Burns, said the standoff – which has attracted supporters from as far away as OH – has been a stressful and scary experience for the town. She says that some friends are not friends anymore.

“We would have a lot more people here, but it’s the middle of the day and people are at work”, said Mary Jo Evers, a local resident at the protest.

Beckerman said she might also release citizen journalist Peter Santilli.

Next, Finicum jumped out of the truck, she said.

A speaker believed to be David Fry said he asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation whether it was possible to “get out of here without charges”, but “they keep saying that’s not possible”.

Finicum felt the federal government was illegally possessing Malhaur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Ore.

“As the armed group’s unrepentant leader, he (Ammon Bundy) has consistently and publicly expressed support for an armed occupation that has endangered, and continues to endanger, many people”, the document states. That’s what the armed militants renamed the refuge during the occupation. Their demands included the freeing of the jailed ranchers and that the wildlife refuge be turned over to local control. As the spokesman for the armed protesters who began occupying a federal wildlife refuge on January 2 in southeastern Oregon, Finicum, who wore a.45-caliber pistol on his hip, said he wouldn’t be taken alive. A loaded handgun was later found in his pocket, according to police. His family disputes that. “Although he may have been animated, he does not appear to have been threatening or posing any real threat or danger to anyone”. As he talked about the video of his father’s death, Robert Finicum’s voice wavered.

From the opposite side, longtime Burns resident and U.S. Forest Service technician Fred Skunkcap took in the scene.