FBI: Here's Why Oregon Occupier Was Shot

They say video shows Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum reaching for his jacket pocket
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 29, 2016 1:21 AM CST
Updated Jan 29, 2016 6:00 AM CST

In what it said was an effort to address inaccurate and "inflammatory" reports, the FBI released a video of the shooting of Oregon militia spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum Thursday night. The video, taken from law enforcement helicopters on Tuesday, shows Finicum speeding away from police in a white truck and almost running down an FBI agent before getting stuck in a snowbank as he tries to avoid a roadblock, the Oregonian reports. The rancher then leaves the truck and can be seen raising and lowering his arms before he's shot by a man the FBI says is a state trooper, reports Reuters.

The FBI says that "on at least two occasions, Finicum reaches his right hand toward a pocket on the left inside portion of his jacket," where he had a loaded semi-automatic handgun, though the footage isn't clear enough to confirm the movements, Reuters notes. In the early days of the occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Finicum told reporters he would never go to jail. Militia leader Ammon Bundy has urged remaining occupiers to go home. There are believed to be four protesters still there, and one of them says they will all leave peacefully if charges against one man are dropped, the New York Times reports. "If they're not willing to do that, we're all just kind of willing to stay here and see what happens," holdout David Fry said in a video posted online. (More Oregon stories.)

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