Attorney: Arrested group leader urges remaining activists to stand down

BURNS, Ore. (AP) – The attorney for the leader of an armed group occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge says the man wants those remaining at the refuge to “please stand down” and go home.

Ammon Bundy and seven others were arrested Tuesday. Bundy made an initial appearance in federal court in Portland, Oregon, on Wednesday.

Mike Arnold, Bundy’s attorney, read a statement afterward in which Bundy urged those still at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to leave.

In the statement, Bundy asked the federal government to allow the people remaining at the refuge to depart without being prosecuted. Addressing those still holding out, Bundy’s statement said: “Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. This fight is now in the courts. Please go home.”

Federal agents have surrounded the refuge where the remnants of Bundy’s group were still refusing to give up on the occupation that began Jan. 2 to protest federal land policies.

Some witnesses say a man was killed by police after charging at authorities during the arrests of armed activists occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge. But others say he complied with orders.

Authorities say a man died when officers opened fire during a traffic stop Tuesday. The daughter of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum tells the Oregonian it was the Arizona rancher.

Police have not detailed what led to the shooting or if Finicum or any of the other ranchers exchanged gunfire with officers.

Mark McConnell says he drove one of the vehicles stopped by authorities and that Finicum was in another and “charged” at officers.

McConnell said in a video posted to Facebook that the rancher took off and authorities pursued.

He says he didn’t see the shooting, but others in the group said he charged after law enforcement.

A message was left Wednesday at a phone number believed to belong to McConnell.

Briana Bundy, group leader Ammon Bundy’s sister-in-law, said Finicum and others “did everything they asked, and they murdered him.”

Authorities say the armed group occupying the national wildlife preserve in Oregon was given “ample opportunity” to leave peacefully.

Greg Bretzing, the FBI’s Portland special agent in charge, said at a news conference Wednesday that authorities took a deliberate and measured response to those who took over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2. He says they’re working to safely remove those who are still occupying the site.

Bretzing says authorities tried to conduct a traffic stop safely and away from local residents Tuesday night, which ended with eight arrests and the death of one man.

He wouldn’t release specifics about the death, saying only that the man died as authorities tried to take him into custody.

Bretzing says the activists “have chosen to threaten and intimidate the America they profess to love.”

Federal and state officials were restricting access on Wednesday to the Oregon refuge being occupied by an armed group after one of the occupiers was killed during a traffic stop and eight more, including the group’s leader Ammon Bundy, were arrested.

The group, which has included people from as far away as Arizona and Michigan, seized the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2. They want federal lands turned over to local authorities.

The confrontation came amid increasing calls for law enforcement to take action against Bundy for the illegal occupation of the wildlife refuge.

The group, calling themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, came to the frozen high desert of eastern Oregon to decry what it calls onerous federal land restrictions and to object to the prison sentences of two local ranchers convicted of setting fires.