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January 27, 2016

Bundys Arrested & 1 Dead, Amid Oregon Wildlife Refuge Occupation
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In Oregon, right-wing militia leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy have been
arrested, and group spokesperson Robert "La Voy" 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 La Voy 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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