Bundys Arrested Amid Oregon Wildlife Refuge Occupation

In Oregon, right-wing militia leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy have been arrested, and group spokesperson Robert "LaVoy" Finicum has reportedly been killed following a traffic stop along Highway 395. The stop took place near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, where the Bundys and their followers had maintained an armed occupation for more than three weeks. On January 2, the militia took over the wildlife refuge in support of two ranchers sentenced to prison for setting fires that burned federal land. The ranchers later turned themselves in to authorities. But militia members continued their occupation, calling for the land to be "returned to them." For weeks, local residents and the Paiute Tribe—which has treaty rights to the land—have called on the militia to leave. On Tuesday afternoon, Oregon state troopers stopped the Bundy brothers en route to a community meeting in John Day, Oregon. Authorities say five people were arrested in the stop and that shots were fired. Officials did not identify the man who had been killed, but Nevada state Assemblymember Michele Fiore says it was LaVoy Finicum, the militia’s de facto spokesperson. Authorities say an additional two people were arrested later in Burns, and another man turned himself in to the police in Arizona. All eight are facing federal felony charges of conspiracy to impede officers from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.

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