Harney County, OR — One person was killed as authorities arrested a group of people — including Ammon Bundy — involved with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the FBI and Oregon State Police said.
The deceased individual, who has not been identified, was the subject of a federal probable cause arrest, officials said.
Those arrested include Bundy, who has led the armed occupation; his brother, Ryan Bundy; and Brian Cavalier, Shawna Cox and Ryan Waylen Payne, authorities said.
The arrests took place along Highway 395.
Shots were fired, authorities said. They did not say who fired first.
One of those arrested suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital, authorities said.
The group of protesters has occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since January 2 to protest federal land policies.
Ammon Bundy, son of controversial Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, and others started out protesting the sentencing of Dwight Hammond and his son Steven, ranchers convicted of arson on federal lands in Oregon.
But a march supporting the Hammonds led to the armed occupation of the refuge, with occupiers decrying what they call government overreach when it comes to federal lands.
Last week, Oregon’s governor said that she’d had enough of the protest at the refuge in Harney County, in the southeastern corner of her state.
“The residents of Harney County have been overlooked and underserved by federal officials’ response thus far,” Gov. Kate Brown said during a news conference. “This spectacle of lawlessness must end. And until Harney County is free of it I will not stop insisting that federal officials enforce the law.”
