The standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge moved closer to resolution late Wednesday as the holdouts negotiated a deal in which they would surrender to the FBI early Thursday in the presence of two high-profile witnesses.
In a phone conversation on livestream, Sean and Sandy Anderson said they would wait for the arrival of the Rev. Franklin Graham and Nevada state Rep. Michele Fiore before turning themselves in at an FBI checkpoint near their makeshift camp at the Oregon refuge.
Ms. Fiore arrived Wednesday at Portland International Airport and spoke on the phone with the occupiers.
“We want the media there,” said Mrs. Anderson in a conversation with a supporter, Gavin Seim, adding that she wanted “witnesses.”
At the same time, she said she felt “wrong” about “giving myself to the hands of the enemy,” and worried that if she did turn herself in, “We’re never getting out of prison.”
The occupiers made a real-time public event of the siege on YouTube on Wednesday night, vacillating between warning of a bloodbath they said would be on the FBI’s hands and negotiating surrender terms.
SEE ALSO: FBI arrests Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy in Portland
In a statement Wednesday night, the FBI said that its agents have “moved to contain the remaining occupiers by placing agents at barricades both immediately ahead of and behind the area where the occupiers are camping.”
“Negotiations between the occupiers and the FBI continue. No shots have been fired,” said the statement.
The action came after one of the four remaining occupiers — David Fry, Jeff Banta, and the Andersons — “rode an ATV outside the barricades established by the militia at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.”
“FBI agents attempted to approach the driver, and he returned to the encampment at the refuge at a high rate of speed,” said the statement.
The Oregonian, citing the occupiers, reported that the FBI had deployed several armored vehicles and was bellowing orders into the compound to “Come out with your hands up.”
The last four holdouts have been in the compound alone since Jan. 26, when several fellow occupiers were arrested outside the compound. They issued a defiant video this week demanding the same deal that they say Ferguson rioters got — the dropping of all charges.
A friend of Mr. Fry was streaming the final showdown on YouTube through what the Oregonian described as “an open phone line with the occupiers.”
As many as 60,000 people were logged in at one time and the Twitter hashtag #OregonStandoff was the top U.S. “trending topic,” updating at a rate of dozens per minute.
In one exchange, an FBI officer can be heard telling the occupiers, who have been indicted on conspiracy and other charges, that “there’s nowhere for you to go,” prompting a defiant Mr. Fry to yell back, “We’re leaving tomorrow.”
At another point, Mr. Anderson yelled, “Did your boss send you here to kill innocent Americans?” evoking fears among some of their sympathizers that this event could turn into another Ruby Ridge or Waco-like bloodbath.
“You guys killed LaVoy” and “let Obama bring terrorists into our country,” Mr. Fry yells, referring to what the occupiers are calling a fatal ambush on Robert “LaVoy” Finicum last month.
The occupiers tried to solicit several intermediaries, including such sympathetic Western state legislators as Ms. Fiore and Matt Shea of Washington.
Ms. Fiore was already in Portland as part of a plan to meet Thursday with lawyers for Ammon Bundy, the now-jailed leader of the original occupation group. While Ms. Fiore had met the occupiers before and reassured them of her sympathies, Mr. Graham has had no previous known ties to the group.
The FBI arrested Mr. Bundy’s father, Cliven Bundy, Wednesday in Portland after he arrived at the airport. No charges were listed, yet, The Associated Press said.
At one point, Ms. Fiore could be heard on the livestream offering to negotiate, but Mr. Fry said he was told by a federal official off the feed that the FBI would not agree to this.
“I will come to the refuge,” Ms. Fiore said, urging the four occupiers to stay calm while she tried to talk to the FBI herself.
“They have to let someone to negotiate. We cannot afford more bloodshed,” she said,
FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing said that, “It has never been the FBI’s desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully.”
“However, we reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney County who live and work in this area,” Mr. Bretzing said in the statement.
According to Mr. Anderson, the occupiers would not shoot except in self-defense but they expected to die. “It’s not self-inflicted wounds either,” Mrs. Anderson said.
Added Mr. Fry: “You don’t need to go to hell for killing us.”
At one point, the three occupiers whose voices could be heard began to pray and asked those listening in to do the same.
A total of 16 people have been indicted in connection with the occupation, which began Jan. 2 as a protest against federal public-lands policy and the resentencing of two Harney County ranchers to five years’ imprisonment each for a prescribed fire on their land that spread to federal property.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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