Bundy Arrested, 1 Killed 1 Wounded in Shootout with FBI

27 Jan, 2016

The leader of an armed occupation at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon was arrested on Tuesday during a confrontation in which one person was killed and another was wounded, the FBI said.

Protesters were still occupying the remote Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon after leader Ammon Bundy’s arrest and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was setting up a perimeter, a law enforcement official told Reuters.

The takeover at Malheur that started Jan. 2 is the latest flare-up in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, a decades-old conflict over the U.S. government’s control of millions acres of land in the West.

Four other people were taken into custody along with Bundy following the confrontation along Highway 395 in northeast Oregon, according to the FBI. A fifth individual was arrested by the Oregon State Police in a separate incident in Burns, Oregon.

All of those arrested face federal charges of conspiracy to use force, intimidation or threats to impede federal officers from discharging their duties, the FBI said.

The Oregonian newspaper reported that Bundy had been en route to a community meeting in John Day, Oregon, with several other members of the occupation, where he was scheduled to be a guest speaker, when authorities stopped his vehicle.

Some 25 miles (40 km) of Highway 395 was shut down in both directions following the incident, a spokesman for the state department of transportation said.

Reuters 

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