PORTLAND [Oregon], United States. The leader of an armed anti-government militia has urged its remaining members to abandon the wildlife refuge they have occupied in Oregon for more than three weeks.
Ammon Bundy was arrested along with seven other members of the militia on Tuesday and made his first court appearance in Portland on Wednesday.
His lawyer, Mike Arnold, read a statement to the court calling on Bundy’s followers to leave Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
He said: “Turn yourselves in, and do not use physical force.”
The last few occupiers have said there are only four of them left and they are in negotiations with the FBI.
Details of the confrontation on a remote highway on Tuesday, in which activist Robert Finicum was killed during a traffic stop, have begun to emerge.
Bundy’s followers gave conflicting accounts of how Finicum died – with one claiming he charged at FBI agents, while another said he did nothing to provoke the agents.
Witness Raymond Doherty told KOIN-TV said he heard around half a dozen shots over a 15-second period.
He said: “I saw them shooting at each other.”
Authorities have not released any details about the incident, or confirmed that the dead man was Finicum.
Three more members of the group were reportedly arrested on Thursday.
On Wednesday, a federal judge in Portland unsealed a criminal complaint that said the armed group had explosives and night-vision goggles and was prepared to fight at the refuge or in the nearby town of Burns.
Someone tipped off authorities about the equipment on 2 January, when the group took over the refuge, according to the complaint.
Bundy and seven others have been charged with felony counts of “conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats”.
The FBI set up checkpoints around the refuge, and is only allowing ranchers who own property in specific areas to pass through.
Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan Bundy are the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a high-profile standoff with the government over grazing rights in 2014.
The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.
Credit: Sky News
