Oregon Standoff, Standoff Winds Down

© REUTERS/Steve Dykes

FBI arrests 3 more protesters as standoff winds down - The standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge seemed to be winding down early Thursday as eight people left the refuge and were met by FBI and Oregon State Police at checkpoints. Three protesters were arrested and five were freed.

Before the checkpoints were established, several other cars left the refuge without incident, authorities said.

At approximately 3:30 p.m. PT, the FBI made probable cause arrests of Duane Leo Ehmer, 45, of Irrigon, Ore., and Dylan Wade Anderson, 34, of Provo, Utah, according to a release by the law enforcement agency.

At approximately, 7:40 p.m., agents made a probable cause arrest of Jason S. Patrick, 43, of Bonaire, Ga. All were in contact with the FBI, and each chose to turn himself into agents at a checkpoint outside the refuge. The arrests were without incident, authorities said.

Each man faces one federal felony count of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats, the same charge leveled against the protesters arrested Tuesday.

Law enforcement set up a pair of large floodlights that lit up the road, and the apparent FBI checkpoint, in the pitch blackness about 7 miles from the refuge headquarters. As reporters waited, coyotes could be heard wailing loudly in the distance.

A father and son pair from Hermiston, Ore., who wanted to reach the refuge were turned away at gunpoint when they reached the checkpoint.

Early in the evening a group of eight unmarked sport-utility vehicles that were presumed to be police left in a convoy headed towards Burns. It was unknown if any of the arrested men were inside.

Later, several large armored police trucks came up to the roadblock with lights flashing. A man’s voice on a loudspeaker told media to disperse immediately, and said cars in the way would be run over.

Earlier Wednesday militia leader Ammon Bundy urged his followers to leave, according to a statement released by his attorney.

Bundy's lawyer, Mike Arnold, read a statement by Bundy, arrested Tuesday, on the steps of a courthouse in Portland.

At approximately, 7:40 p.m., agents made a probable cause arrest of Jason S. Patrick, 43, of Bonaire, Ga. All were in contact with the FBI, and each chose to turn himself into agents at a checkpoint outside the refuge. The arrests were without incident, authorities said.

Each man faces one federal felony count of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats, the same charge leveled against the protesters arrested Tuesday.

Law enforcement set up a pair of large floodlights that lit up the road, and the apparent FBI checkpoint, in the pitch blackness about 7 miles from the refuge headquarters. As reporters waited, coyotes could be heard wailing loudly in the distance.

A father and son pair from Hermiston, Ore., who wanted to reach the refuge were turned away at gunpoint when they reached the checkpoint.

Early in the evening a group of eight unmarked sport-utility vehicles that were presumed to be police left in a convoy headed towards Burns. It was unknown if any of the arrested men were inside.

Later, several large armored police trucks came up to the roadblock with lights flashing. A man’s voice on a loudspeaker told media to disperse immediately, and said cars in the way would be run over.

Earlier Wednesday militia leader Ammon Bundy urged his followers to leave, according to a statement released by his attorney.

Bundy's lawyer, Mike Arnold, read a statement by Bundy, arrested Tuesday, on the steps of a courthouse in Portland.

Bundy's request came after mounting pressure from authorities for the protesters to abandon the site.

"They have chosen to threaten and intimidate the America they profess to love and through their criminal actions bring these consequences upon themselves," said Greg Bretzing, the FBI special agent in charge, said earlier Wednesday.

In a particularly emotional statement before reporters, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward spoke directly to the remaining half-dozen holdouts at the refuge.

"It is time for everybody in this illegal occupation to move on," Ward said, stopping periodically to regain his composure. "There doesn't have to be bloodshed in our community. (When) we have issues with the way things are in our government, we have a responsibility as citizens to act on them in an appropriate manner. We don't arm up, we don't rebel. We work through the appropriate channels. This can't happen anymore, this can't happen in America, and it can't happen in Harney County."

The brief statements by the FBI, sheriff and federal prosecutor came one day after law enforcement officers stopped a group of the protesters at a roadblock about 20 miles north of the refuge.

Finicum, the soft-spoken but defiant co-leader of the protest group, was shot and killed. Officials refused to provide details, but the 56-year-old Arizona resident’s identity was confirmed by his family.

Ward said officials might have been able to wait longer to move against the protesters if they had not "created a lot of stress" in the community.

"Some of these folks have spent a lot of time in town trying to stir up issues in the community," he said. "It has been tearing our community apart."

Those arrested Tuesday included the Bundy brothers, Ryan 43, of Bunkerville, Nev., and Ammon, 40, of Emmett, Idaho, along with Brian Cavalier, 44, of Bunkerville; Shawna Cox, 59, of Kanab, Utah; and Ryan Waylen Payne, 32, of Anaconda, Mont. Also arrested, at separate locations in Burns, Ore., near the refuge, were Pete Santilli, host of a conservative online radio show, and Joseph Donald O'Shaughnessy, 45, of Cottonwood, Ariz.

An eighth person, Jon Eric Ritzheimer, 32, was arrested after turning himself into police in Peoria, Ariz.

Bundy, head of an anti-government group, had been holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since Jan. 2, when he and his followers seized its headquarters south of Burns as part of a long-running dispute over public land use in the West.

Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a high-profile 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights. Finicum's death was also reported on the Bundy Ranch page on Facebook.

The elder Bundy said the fatal shooting and arrests should be a "wake-up call to America."

"This is a total disaster to be happening in America, where we have federal people killing innocent people," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "My sons were there to do good."

Stanglin reported from Arlington, Va. Contributing: (Salem, Ore.) Statesman Journal, The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Arizona Republic