Oregon standoff: Arizonan killed; Bundy, Ritzheimer and others arrested

Arizonan LaVoy Finicum was killed and leader Ammon Bundy and others involved in the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge were arrested as law-enforcement officials moved against them Tuesday afternoon.

The FBI and the Oregon State Police stopped the occupiers along a highway north of the refuge about 4:25 p.m., according to a joint statement from the agencies. The statement confirmed one person had died and did not release that person's name. But Finicum's ex-wife, Kelly Whatcott, said she learned from their children that LaVoy was shot and killed Tuesday. A Nevada state lawmaker also identified Finicum as the shooting victim.

"He did not mean any harm to anyone," Whatcott said in a phone interview. "He believed fiercely in freedom. I know he carried around a holster and a gun, but he's a cowboy."

Another person suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment, the law-enforcement statement said.

Bundy, a longtime Phoenix businessmen who had moved to Emmett, Idaho, had led militants in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since Jan. 2.

What made Ammon Bundy go from Arizona businessman to leader of the Oregon standoff?

Occupiers arrested

Also arrested:

• Ammon Bundy's brother Ryan Bundy, 43, of Bunkerville, Nev.;
• Brian Cavalier, 44, of Bunkerville;
• Shawna Cox, 59, of Kanab, Utah;
• Ryan Waylen Payne, 32, of Anaconda, Mont.;
• Joseph Donald O'Shaughnessy, 45, of Cottonwood in a separate stop in Burns, Ore., officials said. Shortly afterward, activist Peter Santilli, 50, of Cincinnati was arrested without incident in Burns;
• Jon Ritzheimer, 32, who had been a part of the occupation but apparently had returned home to Arizona, turned himself in to the Peoria Police Department without incident Tuesday night, the FBI reported.

Those arrested face a federal felony charge of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats, the statement said.

The shooting took place after FBI and state police stopped the group's caravan about 20 miles north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which is located near Burns, Ore. The group, apparently traveling in two vehicles, was en route to a community meeting in the town of John Day.

The standoff, however, is not over. Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter John Sepulvado, who is inside the refuge but not at the main compound, posted on Twitter that five or six protesters remain and, he says, vow not to leave and are prepared to die. He reported FBI agents have surrounded all roads to the federal refuge.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown asked for “patience as officials continue pursuit of a swift and peaceful resolution.”

Early Wednesday, the FBI and Oregon State Police established a series of checkpoints along key routes into and out of the refuge. The agencies said in a statement that the containment was to "better ensure the safety of community members." They said the decision was made out of an abundance of caution. According to the statement, only Harney County ranchers who own property in specific areas will be required to show identification and be allowed to pass.

Brand Thornton, one of Bundy's supporters, said he left the refuge Monday and wasn't sure what those remaining would do. "The entire leadership is gone," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I wouldn't blame any of them for leaving."

Thornton called the arrests "a dirty trick" by law enforcement.

NBC News correspondent Pete Williams, quoting unidentified sources, says Finicum was shot after stepping from a vehicle and brandishing a weapon. Williams reported there were nine people in two vehicles that were stopped at a roadblock. The vehicle in which Finicum was riding sped off from the roadblock but quickly ran into a snowbank. Not all occupants of the vehicles were arrested, Williams reported.

Who was Finicum?

In an interview earlier this month with NBC, Finicum was asked if he would rather die than go to prison over the Oregon standoff.  "I have no intention of spending any of my days in a concrete box," he said in the interview.

"There are things more important than your life, and freedom is one of them. ... I'm prepared to defend freedom."

Whatcott said that Finicum believed in the occupiers' complaints against the federal government. That is why he left his ranch near Colorado City to join the other protesters.

"He is stubborn and he is hard-working and he stands up for what he believes," said Whatcott. "He didn't do it for money or anything else. He did it because he really believed their rights were being infringed upon.

"He is very passionate about anything he does. And he doesn't back down."

Michele Fiore, a Nevada state assemblywoman, said she spoke with Ammon Bundy’s wife Tuesday evening after the incident. Bundy had told his wife in a phone call that the group cooperated with officers' instructions during the stop, said Fiore.

“I don’t think LaVoy ever thought of even a physical altercation with the man who killed him,” said Fiore, who has supported Ammon Bundy and the other occupiers. “They (law enforcement) basically ambushed him.”

Key figures in Oregon standoff have Arizona ties

Arizona connections

Ammon and Ryan are the sons of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada cattle rancher who drew national notoriety for his standoff with federal authorities over grazing rights in 2014.

Ammon Bundy had lived in metro Phoenix for more than a decade and still owns Valet Fleet Service, a vehicle-maintenance shop in Tempe.

In addition to Finicum, at least two other Arizona residents were part of the occupation of the wildlife refuge.

Ritzheimer of Peoria is a former U.S. Marine and the operator of Rogue Infidel LLC, a company that sells anti-Muslim shirts and bumper stickers.

He posted on FacebookTuesday night that he had come home to visit his family, and federal officials knew that he was in Arizona and had asked him to turn himself in.

Blaine Cooper of Dewey-Humboldt is president of Third Watch Productions Media – a production company that merged with Resurrect the Republic-Truth Media in May 2014. The company says it seeks to “expose the corruption in government."

Cooper has posted several videos of the Oregon standoff on his YouTube channel.

Arizona militia members say state took kids in retaliation for Oregon siege

Finicum and Cooper said earlier this month that Arizona officials took children out of their homes as part of a campaign to pressure them to surrender.

Finicum was a longtime foster parent; Cooper said on social media that Department of Child Safety caseworkers came to his Humboldt home and took his two daughters from his wife.

Cooper claimed his wife later took them back with the help of militia members and took them to live with family in Missouri, according to a report in the Daily Courier of Prescott.

O'Shaughnessy's involvement with the group was not immediately known. A man by the same name was found guilty of driving on a suspended license in 2007, according to Cottonwood Municipal Court records.

USA TODAY and Oregon Statesman Journal contributed to this article.

Oregon militia takeover: How did we get here?