New mugshots of militia members arrested in Oregon shootout
BURNS, Oregon (KTVU and wires) -- Oregon authorities Wednesday released new mugshots of 7 militia members arrested in a shootout Tuesday evening.
The members were part of an armed group that occupied a national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon on January 2. Eight members went to a town meeting yesterday, when they were stopped by law enforcement. It is unclear what prompted the gunfire, but one militia member was killed, and another was wounded.
The Oregonian newspaper reports that the man who was killed, was 55-year-old Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, a spokesman for the group.
The FBI said authorities arrested Ammon Bundy, 40, his brother Ryan Bundy, 43, Brian Cavalier, 44, Shawna Cox, 59, and Ryan Payne, 32, during a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 395 Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said another person, Joseph Donald O'Shaughnessy, 45, was arrested in Burns, Oregon.
Bundy's group, which has included people from as far away as Arizona and Michigan, seized the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge,as part of a long-running dispute over public lands in the West.
Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a high-profile 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights.
The FBI said the people arrested Tuesday face a federal felony charge of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.
Federal law enforcement officers converged on the wildlife refuge after the arrests and were expected to remain at the site throughout the night. It was unclear how many members of the armed group, if any, were at the refuge when the law enforcement officers arrived.
Bundy's group, calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, came to the frozen high desert of eastern Oregon to decry what it calls onerous federal land restrictions and to object to the prison sentences of two local ranchers convicted of setting fires.
Specifically, the group wanted federal lands turned over to local authorities. The U.S. government controls about half of all land in the West.