The FBI Just Released Intense Footage of the Oregon Militia Shootout
Warning: Graphic.
On Thursday evening, the FBI released aerial video of the confrontation between law enforcement and militiamen involved in the occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that left one dead and eight in police custody earlier this week.
The man killed in the altercation was Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, a spokesman for the ranchers and militiamen who occupied the wildlife refuge earlier this month. Finicum was reportedly “shot and killed after he charged police during a roadside stop,” during which he reached towards his pockets for what police say “contained a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun,” the FBI told the Oregonian newspaper.
In the video, you can see two black SUVs closely following the occupier’s silver car along a rural road near the Malheur refuge before coming to a stop in the middle of the road. After FBI agents surround the vehicle, the occupiers book it down the road before running into a police roadblock. The vehicle attempts to go off-road in an attempt to flee before crashing to a stop. All of the occupants exit the vehicle, but after one figure (Finicum) appears to put his hands in his pocket, you can see a police officer fire multiple shots. Finicum falls to the ground, and the tape runs on.
Law enforcement officials are currently investigating Finicum’s death as an officer-involved shooting.
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