BEND – Something didn’t seem right about the bullet hole in the top of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum’s white Dodge pickup.
Investigators from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office could account for bullet holes in the left front hood, the driver’s side mirror and the front grille. They came from the AR-15 of a state trooper who had fired three times at the truck as Finicum raced at 70 mph toward a police roadblock on Jan. 26.
The angle of a fourth bullet hole didn’t match the others.
An elaborate computer analysis, a review of the FBI aerial video of the shooting scene and a video from a passenger in Finicum’s pickup produced a result that startled the team poring over evidence into Finicum’s fatal shooting that day.
The fourth round, police concluded, was fired by an FBI agent who subsequently twice denied to investigators ever firing his gun. As the investigation proceeded, detectives determined he also fired a second time, but didn’t hit anything at the scene.
The discovery of that gunfire and conduct afterward by the agent and four other agents have triggered a criminal investigation that could result in the prosecution of all five. The agents all serve on the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team. Authorities on Tuesday released few details about the matter and didn’t identify the agents by name.
But the disclosure is a jolt to the FBI. The Oregon investigators two weeks ago flew to Washington, D.C., to directly brief top FBI officials about their findings. The U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General is now investigating what it said in a statement were “allegations of FBI misconduct.” The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is separately investigating whether agents were justified in using deadly force that day.
As the 41-day takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge unfolded, the violent outcomes of standoffs at Idaho’s Ruby Ridge and in Waco, Texas, were on the minds of law enforcement, occupiers and self-styled militia. No one wanted to trigger a confrontation similar to those events, which resulted in the deaths of civilians and led to harsh criticism of federal agents.
Detectives investigating the Finicum shooting questioned the five FBI agents at least twice — the night of the shooting and 10 days later. Such questioning is standard for officer-involved shootings.
The Hostage Rescue Team is among the FBI’s most elite outfits. The members have no other job but to work full time as a SWAT-style group, operating from the FBI base in Quantico, Virginia. The team is the FBI’s global resource for anti-terrorism operations, but it also is selectively deployed across the country to deal with hostage situations or other unique crises.
One investigator working on the task force pulled together by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office reported that he had been told soon after the shooting that two state troopers and two FBI agents had fired. He said the FBI agents approached him later to say they hadn’t fired their weapons.
In separate interviews later that night, those two FBI agents and the other three on duty at the shooting scene said they hadn’t discharged their weapons and repeated these statements in a second round of interviews Feb. 5 and 6, investigators reported.
The second time, the agents insisted that an attorney be present and that they be given an opportunity to “reference their prior statements” if they were going to be asked questions they had already answered in the first interview.
“Of particular concern to all of us is that the HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) operators did not disclose their shots to our investigators or their superiors,” said Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson. “Nor did they discuss specific actions they took after the shooting, which are the subject of an ongoing investigation.”
Authorities haven’t described those “specific actions.”
Nelson said evidence about the agents’ conduct was presented to U.S. Attorney Bill Williams in Bend on Feb. 18. The next day, the evidence was shown to Greg Bretzing, special agent in charge of the Portland FBI office.
“Upon learning this, and given the FBI presence on scene, I immediately contacted our Inspection Division which notified the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General which is currently investigating this matter.” Bretzing said.
On Saturday, Feb. 20, agents from the Justice Department’s inspector general and the FBI’s Inspections Division traveled to Bend to review the evidence.
Nelson and Dan Norris, the Malheur County district attorney overseeing the shooting investigation, a week later traveled to brief top FBI officials in Washington.
Bretzing said Tuesday, however, that identifying who fired the two shots was unresolved.
Document: FBI statement
Upon learning this, and given the FBI presence on scene, I immediately contacted our Inspection Division which notified the United States Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General which is currently investigating this matter.
Tim Colahan, Harney County district attorney who asked Norris to handle the shooting investigation, said that “we deserve to know that our law enforcement officers at the local, state and federal level act appropriately.”
With the indications of FBI misconduct, the Malheur takeover now carries echoes of Ruby Ridge, which resulted in scathing investigations of the FBI and the eventual conviction of an FBI official. The 1992 siege in Idaho started when police sought to arrest anti-government extremist Randy Weaver. His son and his wife were both shot to death during that operation, as was a U.S. marshal.
The resulting investigations into misconduct and mistakes forced the FBI to overhaul its policy for using deadly force and for how it investigates agent-involved shootings. It also prompted changes in the way the FBI deploys the Hostage Rescue Team.
The Justice Department investigated as did the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information. Both found numerous problems with the FBI’s conduct during and after Ruby Ridge. The Senate committee cited a poorly executed search by the FBI for evidence, among other things.
“At least one important piece of evidence – a bullet – was removed and then replaced by FBI agents coordinating the search,” the committee found.
“Throughout the course of its many reports, the FBI accorded its own agents undue deference,” the report said. “Their stories were accepted at face value and were only rarely subject of probing inquiry.”
The committee urged public airings of government misconduct for accountability.
“If our government is to maintain – indeed, even deserve – the trust of the American people, it cannot fear or avoid the truth,” the committee said in its final report.
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/03/oregon_standoff_fbi_lie_uncove.html
I really don’t understand why they would deny firing their guns. Maybe they were embarrassed at their own crappy marksmanship against people that weren’t returning fire?
Anyway, I agree with those who have posted on this story previously: this “investigation” looks like an intent to divert attention from the murder that was committed.
Now the story changes again. Now they say 3 rounds from an Oregon State Trooper’s AR-15 were fired at Finicum’s truck “as Finicum raced at 70 MPH towards the Police roadblock.”
What about all those rounds fired at Finicum and his truck after he stopped. What I see is lyin’ scumbellies in full damage control, getting busted lie after lie.
I want names, especially the name of that pig that finished Finicum off as he lay there wounded. I want names of everyone in law enforcement involved in this murder. No jury of peers would let any of those boys walk. The trouble comes with a corrupt Sheriff’s department, Judicial system, and the complicit MSM.
oh theres 1 way to get the truth out of them.. but its really ugly , and involves doing things the way they do things directly to them all , but until we wake up to realize this will be the only way to deal with sh!t like this ,, not one dam thing is going to change
they have to want to change , even if its fear that makes them want it , we have to make them want it so bad , that they cant see living with out making this change
it wont happen unless we make it happen , change has to be forced upon them with no options out
My Fellow Americans:
This is a classic smoke screen.
While all the attention and “confusion” is being framed around this,… no one is talking about the obvious execution style murder of Levoy Finicum.
Classic smoke screen,…. absolutely classic.
JD – US Marines – When in doubt,… argue about nonsense, and let people think “justice” is being served.
.
“Something didn’t seem right about the bullet hole in the top of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum’s white Dodge pickup.”
Hold it right there!
NOTHING was right about ANY of this incident.
“The committee urged public airings of government misconduct for accountability.”
The ‘committee’ can eat sh#t and die.
I DEMAND public HANGINGS of (so-called) ‘government’ hit men!!!
“ELITE”?
Hardly.
Elite units don’t go getting noticed.
AND
the media doesn’t report about them.
When applied to state-sponsored thuggery, “elite” is just an ego-masturbation term. It’s used by rulers to instill and reinforce a sense of loyalty in their mindless enforcers.
I won’t deny that the thugs in outfits like the HRT are in good physical condition. But so are chimps, gorillas, and orangutans. So, what else could possibly be the basis for calling units like the HRT “elite”? Their training? Merely receiving tons of training doesn’t make one elite — especially if you were selected for training primarily on the basis of your physical conditioning as opposed to brainpower, courage, or other qualities.
Above all, a truly elite unit would never stoop to ambushing and shooting people who hadn’t done any harm to anyone and who showed no intentions of doing so. Those who are truly elite in any field of endeavor seek to conquer great challenges where victory is far from certain. They don’t look for easy opponents and certain victories. That’s what cowards do.
All 4 of them will walk. Asking for an Attorney now? Asking to see transcript of what they said the 1st time? They will ALL probably be promoted. The 1 will probably say “I feared for my life” famous line used by ALL LEO’s when their Balls are in a vice.