During an investigation into the fatal January shooting of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupier Robert LaVoy Finicum, a 54-year-old rancher, federal agents from the “elite” hostage rescue team were found to have lied, or at least failed to admit that they had opened fire.
On Tuesday officials announced that Oregon State Police were justified in shooting and killing Finicum.
The investigation, helmed by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, found that one Oregon State Police trooper had fired thrice at Finicum’s truck as he drove at high speed towards a police road block, crashing into a snowbank at the side of the road.
Finicum exited his vehicle, disobeyed orders to get on the ground, apparently reached for his weapon thrice and was shot in the back thrice by two state troopers. A loaded handgun was retrieved from the scene.
Helicopter camera footage of the scene was released a few weeks back.
They also found that an FBI agent had fired once or twice at Finicum, and did not admit to it during several interviews. The revelation came about because Deschutes County investigators were mystified by a bullet hole in the roof of Finicum’s truck; it was not caused by state troopers, and was allegedly caused by the FBI agents at the scene.
“Of particular concern to all of us is that the FBI [hostage rescue team] operators did not disclose their shots to our investigators, nor did they disclose specific actions they took after the shooting,” Deschutes County Sheriff L. Shane Nelson said.
“The failure by HRT operators to disclose that they fired shots during this contact, and actions they took after the shooting, are the subject of an ongoing investigation by both Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and the inspector general of the United States Department of Justice,” he said.
Sources: LA Times, Wall Street Journal
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