One person is dead and another sustained non-life threatening injuries following a law enforcement raid on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building where a standoff had been underway throughout the month of January.
The FBI and the Oregon State Police began an “enforcement action” to bring a number of people into custody who were associated with the armed standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. One of the people who was sought in the probable cause action was killed. Another person was injured and transported to an area hospital where he was later arrested, according to an FBI press release obtained by Breitbart Texas.
The identity of the deceased suspect has not yet been released.
The arrested individuals include:
- Ammon Edward Bundy, age 40, of Emmett, Idaho
- Ryan C. Bundy, age 43, of Bunkerville, Nevada
- Brian Cavalier, age 44, of Bunkerville, Nevada
- Shawna Cox, age 59, Kanab, Utah
- Ryan Waylen Payne, age 32, of Anaconda, Montana
These arrests occured along Highway 395. One other person was arrested in a separate action taken by the Oregon State Police. They arrested Joseph Donald O’Shaughnessy, age 45, Cottonwood, Arizona, approximately an hour later.
The arrested individuals are expected to face charges of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 372, the FBI statement revealed.
Peter Santilli, age 50, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was also arrested at another location. He faces the same charges and was arrested without incident.
Breitbart Texas managing director Brandon Darby reported in early January from inside the administrative building that had been taken over by the group of men, women and children protesting the government. Darby was given access to all of the people inside the occupied building and interviewed them about their actions. Two of the occupiers were a mother and a baby. A video interview is available in Darby’s original article linked above.
Darby wrote:
The electricity to the facilities was still on. The rooms were warm and cable or satellite television played the news in the background.
Several vehicles belonging to the federal government were being used by the protesters and were referred to as “We the People’s” vehicles.
The women in the group fed me lunch consisting of grilled cheeses, crab salad, and fries. They kept the coffee coming as well. It was easy to forget that they were protesters who took up arms and seized federal facilities.
Darby and Logan Churchwell reported the day before on the actions that led up to the hostile takeover of the government facility.
What started as a community protest–over the extended sentencing of father and son ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond for two cases of arson on public lands–has morphed into another Bundy showdown where sovereign citizen rhetoric, revisionist history, and self-identified militia converge. Due to the extensive nature of this decades-long story, Breitbart News will be filing multiple stories from eastern Oregon in the days ahead.
While it may appear to be a severe overreaction to a criminal justice matter, such episodes are deeply embedded in certain pockets of western states where local property owners and government officials regularly clash over land usage rights and restrictions. Like some progressive activists capitalizing on officer-involved urban shootings, the Bundy family is now leveraging its experience in fomenting illogical protests across state lines.
Detailed information reported by Darby and Churchwell is available here.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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