The suspect, arrested over allegedly unauthorized use of a government vehicle, was detained outside a Safeway supermarket in Burns, Oregon, some 30 miles from the Malheur national wildlife refuge.
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Harney County Sheriff officials said two vehicles had been reported stolen by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and were recovered during the arrest.
The leader of an armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge said Thursday a meeting with local residents will happen but it’s not clear when and where because the group is struggling to find a place for the gathering.
BuzzFeed News observed several of the men driving trucks with government plates at the refuge, including some with decals for the U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service.
Kate Brown and community members have previously called for the group to leave the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
As a standoff at an OR wildlife refuge hits the two-week mark, local residents are growing increasingly tired and wary.
He is the first person arrested in connection with the armed occupation of the wildlife refuge, taken over two weeks ago. Bundy had said that the meeting was to discuss the group’s exit plan.
“If we all keep a calm about us everything will be OK”, Brenda Pointere said Thursday as she exited a Burns restaurant. Hogan was the judge who in 2012 decided that Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven should serve lighter sentences than required by law for setting fire to public lands.
Earlier this week, the Burns Paiute Tribal Council passed a resolution designating the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a “Traditional Cultural Property” under the National Historic Preservation Act.
Grasty has said the county will not do anything that supports or enables the Bundy group, NBC affiliate KTVZ reported.
As the standoff has lingered on, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward has asked locals to stop sending supplies and food to the men at the refuge.
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But if the wildlife refuge falls out of federal control, he said he expected no trespassing signs to go up. A small, armed group has been occupying the refuge since January 2 to protest federal land use policies.
