Tuesday, March 8, 2016

"Go Ahead And Shoot Me!": Video Captures Oregon Occupier's Last Moments

The armed Oregon occupier who was fatally shot by state police officers after a month's long standoff at a federal wildlife refuge remained defiant to the very end, telling officers to "go ahead and shoot me!"

Arizona rancher Robert "LaVoy" Finicum's last moments were captured on cell phone video recorded inside his truck after he was pulled over by Oregon State Police on Jan. 26, and tried to speed away with three passengers on a narrow and winding road.

"O.K. boys, it's going to get real. You want my blood on your hands," Finicum told police after being pulled over, but refusing to step out of his truck. "Get it done 'cus, we got people to see and places to go."

A defacto spokesman for the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Finicum was one of the most outspoken of the group, often stating he would not surrender to authorities and was willing to die for his ideals.

The Malheur County District Attorney on Tuesday said the shooting that left Finicum dead was "justified and necessary."

In a video recorded by passenger Shawna Cox, who was sitting in the backseat of the truck, and released by the FBI on Tuesday, Finicum could be heard yelling at officers to let him and the people inside his truck go.

Via youtube.com

"I'm not giving over," Finicum says. "I'm going into [John] Day County to see the sheriff."

The group then discusses what to do next, but it is clear that Finicum has no plans of turning himself in to authorities.

More than 50 miles away from their destination in John Day County, the group suggests calling the leader of a local militia, but realize they have no cell signal on the remote road.

"Better understand how this thing is going to end," Finicum says. "I'm going to be laying down on the ground with my blood on the street, or I'm going to go see the sheriff. We got people en route."

But the group was unable to reach anyone by phone in the remote area.

"You should have never stopped," Ryan Payne, one of the group's leaders tells Finicum from the back seat of the truck. "You should have never stopped."

Also sitting in the back seat is Victoria Sharp and Shawna Cox.

The group debates their next move, but it appears it is Finicum in the driver's seat that makes the decision.

"I'm going to keep going," he says.

"If we take off, can they shoot your tires out?" Cox is heard saying.

"Where's the guns?" Payne asks.

"They got us stopped, can't get around it," Finicum tells the group. "So, I'm going to go. You guys ready?"

Finicum steps on the gas and speeds away from state police as the passengers tell one other to duck down.

"Are they shooting?" Sharp asks as the truck speeds off.

But the group doesn't get far. Just seconds after they drive away, they realize state police and the FBI had set up a roadblock up the road.

"Hang on!" Payne yells out before Finicum plows into a snowbank.

Finicum almost immediately opens his door and gets out of the truck. "Go ahead and shoot me!" he yells at officers while raising his hand.

Two gunshots ring out, and the driver's side passenger window of the truck then shatters.

Officials said the shots were fired by one member of the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team, but the agent did not not report the shots to investigators. The Justice Department's Inspector General is conducting an investigation into the agent's actions.

Three other agents are also being investigated for not reporting the two shots.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown called the agent's actions "troubling" in a statement released Tuesday, and said the actions were "properly the subject of an ongoing investigation."

After the two shots were fired, the three passengers in the truck are seen on the video ducking under the windows, but Finicum can be heard telling authorities to shoot him.

"Get down on the ground!" an officer is heard yelling.

"Go ahead and shoot me," Finicum repeats.

"You're gonna have to shoot me," Finicum says. Three more gunshots are then heard.

Video from an FBI surveillance plane overhead captures Finicum falling to the snow.

"Damn it, are they shooting him?" Cox said. "Did they shoot him? You assholes."

FBI via AP

Payne, Cox, and Sharp remain in the back of the truck while police continue to shoot pepper rounds into the vehicle.

Sharp says she can't breathe, but the group is hesitant to exit the truck fearing they'll be shot.

The three hunker down, noting weapon-mounted lasers are being pointed at the truck.

About a minute later, police tell the passengers to exit out of the driver's side door.

Payne is the first one to walk out with his hands up, but not before telling Sharp and Cox what he sees outside the truck.

"LaVoy is dead," he says.

Finicum's wife, Jeanette, criticized the results of the state's investigation into the shooting.

"I can hardly believe that a team of qualified law officers could look at the facts in this case and say that no criminal laws were violated," she said in a statement. "I don't think anything could prepare me to accept what is so clearly a finding that challenges the Constitution that my husband died defending."

Jeanette Finicum said she and her attorneys would "seek justice in a different court, under different circumstances," Oregon Public Radio reported.