The last four members of the armed standoff in OR have reportedly said they left booby traps at the wildlife refuge before surrendering, but refuse to detail the locations OR say if there were trip wires OR other devices that could trigger them.
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Mr Fry was alternately defiant and distraught during the rambling final call, veering from rants about the federal government to his thoughts on UFOs.
Bundy had said earlier this week that he meant to travel to OR to support the four men still occupying a government building on the refuge.
The broadcast was frequently interrupted by the sounds of the protesters shouting and law enforcement officers calling out to them by bullhorn. By morning’s end, they fulfilled that pledge.
Most significantly, the complaint establishes that federal prosecutors in Nevada may be preparing to charge the alleged leaders of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation in OR for their earlier roles in the confrontation with law enforcment officers trying to impound Cliven Bundy’s cattle in Bunkerville in 2014.
Federal authorities were criticized during the occupation for not ending it sooner. The Bundys and their supporters argue that the federal government has exceeded the boundaries of the Constitution.
Bundy was arrested Wednesday night when he arrived at Portland International Airport from Las Vegas.
The Bureau of Land Management says the family has not made payments toward a $1.1 million grazing fee and penalty bill. This Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 booking photo provided by the Multnomah County, Ore., Sheriff ” s office shows Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.
The four were the last of several dozen armed protesters who took over the refuge headquarters January 2 in a protest against federal public-lands policy.
The audio was live-streamed on YouTube.
“A dead man can’t talk and a dead man can’t write”, Fiore said.
Federal authorities were criticized during the occupation for not acting sooner to end it. But some experts said the FBI’s strategy of letting tensions die down before moving in ensured there would be no bloodshed.
The occupiers said they were surrounded by armored vehicles.
The peaceful resolution to the standoff, which had lasted 41 days and resulted in one death, signaled a victory for the FBI’s patient, “low burn” approach to the trespassers, and reflected lessons federal agents have learned since bloody standoffs at Waco, Texas, and Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in the 1990s.
The FBI placed agents at barricades around the occupiers’ camp, Bretzing said.
Eimiller said the hearing was continued and Wampler was to stay in federal custody until another hearing Friday, when a judge will decide whether to grant bail and set a date for a post-indictment arraignment.
“The FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully”, said Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon. At times, they seemed to fatalistically embrace that outcome. Their surrender came after the arrival of two facilitators requested by the occupiers, Nevada state Assemblywoman Michele Fiore and the Rev. Franklin Graham.
The people on the phone could be heard debating conditions for which they’d be willing to leave the refuge.
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The armed protesters, originally led by brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy, were known to be heavily armed and resistant to the federal government.
