Protesters react to Finicum shooting

BURNS — As residents debated the shooting death of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum — a spokesmen of the weekslong occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge who was shot and killed Tuesday during a traffic stop by state and federal officials on a state highway north of here — a small protest broke out Friday afternoon at the Harney County Courthouse.

The shooting of Finicum by an Oregon State Police trooper “was the needless taking of a life,” asserted Monte Siegner, 79, wearing a cowboy hat and holding a handmade sign that said “Ambushed and Assassinated.”

Siegner, from the small community of Riverside, about 60 miles east, stood with his son, Clint Siegner, 43, who drove from Eagle, Idaho, on Friday to support his father.

The younger Siegner stood with a sign that said, “Federal Supremicists (sic) Murdered an Innocent Man.”

“Terrible,” he said. “It didn’t have to happen. The FBI says it’s been doing everything for a peaceful resolution, and then they arm on the highway and have that kind of show of force? It’s not about peace.”

Both men, part of about 25 people who joined the protest, including members of the Pacific Patriot Network, which is encouraging people from across the country to come to Burns on Monday for a rally to tell the FBI to leave and let the last four occupiers at the refuge go, say they have seen the FBI aerial video of Finicum’s shooting.

Released publicly Thursday, it shows Finicum quickly jumping from his vehicle after it swerved and plowed into a deep snowbank at a law enforcement traffic stop. After exiting the vehicle, Finicum rapidly steps in one direction then another in the snow, repeatedly turning and alternately raising his arms high and lowering them and reaching into his jacket, as two law enforcement officers, handguns drawn and aimed, move in on him. Finicum’s vehicle previously had sped away from another traffic stop in which occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy and others were arrested and charged with federal felonies.

Authorities said Finicum had a loaded gun in his jacket.

“I think it’s a bunch of garbage,” said B.J. Soper, 39, of Redmond, one of the founders of the Pacific Patriot Network, standing with others in front of the courthouse, as sheriff’s deputies could be seen holding rifles at the ready, keeping watch on the rowdy crowd. “There is confirmed eyewitness testimony that LaVoy Finicum was shot in cold blood.”

Asked if he thought Finicum was going for his gun, Soper said no. He was reaching down “because he was shot in the hip,” Soper said. “And then the chest, and then the final shot that took him to the ground.”

Law enforcement officials have not said how many times Finicum was shot or where on his body he was hit.

Soper and his group are calling for Harney County Judge Steven Grasty, Sheriff Dave Ward and all county commissioners to resign. “We’re also asking for the FBI and their militarized force to go home,” he added.

“I would just like to see this resolved,” Soper said. “We don’t need more bloodshed. They’re scared to come out,” he said of the remaining occupiers. “We’re looking for a peaceful resolution, but it’s pretty hard when there’s a dead man.”

Monte Siegner said of Finicum’s actions on the video: “Well, if he had a gun and was going to use it, I think he would have come out of his car with it instead of with his hands up. They like to say he had a gun, I guess, to justify their actions.”