![]() ![]() Ultimately, roughly 80 people perished when a fire consumed the compound.Īnger over those incidents inspired Army veteran Timothy McVeigh to detonate a truck bomb at a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people. But team members were also involved in the bloody incidents that galvanized the anti-government movement during the 1990s: the botched siege of Randy Weaver and his family at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the deadly raid on a religious sect, the Branch Davidians, in Waco, Texas.Īt Ruby Ridge, a rescue team sniper killed Weaver’s wife as she stood in the doorway holding her baby. At Waco, members of the hostage rescue team harassed the Davidians, inflaming tensions with FBI negotiators who were trying to bring about a peaceful resolution. The FBI’s hostage rescue team is an elite unit that has worked overseas with the military and conducted high-stakes rescues in the U.S. “And it will solidify in their minds everything they believe.” “This is all they’ll choose to remember,” he said. And now to have something like this, where the integrity of an FBI agent is called into question - that has lasting effect, not just on that agent but unfortunately on the FBI.”īretzing, who has since retired, said the indictment also reinforces anti-government militia conspiracy theories about federal agents. “This was a very patient, a very deliberate approach to what happened at Malheur and our goal from the beginning was to resolve it peacefully … and we largely achieved that. “Regardless of how it comes out, it’s going to have a negative impact on the FBI and our efforts,” said Greg Bretzing, the special agent in charge of the response to the occupation. The investigation also clouds the FBI’s carefully crafted response to the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a hands-off strategy that was honed after deadly missteps by the FBI decades earlier. Its members have maintained that Finicum was murdered, and his death has become a rallying cry. The allegation that one of its agents lied will be a boon to the anti-government militia movement, which is fueled by deep distrust of federal law enforcement. The Justice Department investigation into the hostage rescue team’s actions in the shooting is ongoing, and comes at a challenging time for the FBI. Attorney Bill Williams said at a press conference on Wednesday. Astarita pleaded not guilty and was put on administrative duty pending the outcome of his trial, which begins in August. “Special Agent Astarita falsely stated he did not fire his weapon during the attempted arrest of Mr. Finicum was ultimately killed by the state police. ![]() Joseph Astarita, a member of the FBI’s hostage rescue team, lied about firing two shots at Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, one of the occupation’s leaders, after he drove his truck toward a roadblock set up by the FBI and Oregon State Police. One of the occupation leaders had been killed by law enforcement, but a situation that threatened to become far more deadly had ended relatively peacefully.īut the operation has now come under increased scrutiny, with the indictment made public this week of an FBI agent for lying and obstructing justice. When the FBI finally defused the armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon last year, the agency largely viewed the effort as a success. ![]()
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