Sgt. Tom Hutchison stands in front of an Oregon State Police roadblock on Highway 395 on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 between John Day and Burns, Ore.
Highway 395 is blocked at Seneca between John Day and Burns, Ore., by Oregon State police officers the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016.
LaVoy Finicum, a rancher from Arizona, who is part of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge speaks with reporters during a news conference at the the refuge Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
Ammon Bundy, center, speaks with a reporter at a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Friday near Burns, Ore. Bundy, the leader of an armed group occupying the national wildlife refuge to protest federal land management policies, said Friday he and his followers are not ready to leave even though the sheriff and many locals say the group has overstayed their welcome. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)BURNS, Oregon – A member of an armed anti-government group who was killed in a traffic stop in Oregon vowed a few weeks ago that he would die before spending his life behind bars.
LaVoy Finicum, a 55-year-old rancher from Cain Beds, Arizona, died Tuesday after law enforcement officers initiated the stop near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon.
It’s unclear what happened in the moments before the shooting, or if Finicum or any of the other activists involved exchanged gunfire with officers. Authorities wouldn’t say how many shots were fired.
Eight occupiers were arrested, including group leader Ammon Bundy.
Finicum also was a leader of the armed group that took over the refuge Jan. 2 to oppose federal land restrictions and object to the prison sentences of two local ranchers convicted of setting fires.