After his violent arrest Tuesday, in which his brother Ryan was wounded and friend LaVoy Finicum was killed, militia leader Ammon Bundy is calling on the remaining armed standoffers near Burns, Ore. to stand down.
Arnold Law, the firm representing Bundy and the other arrested occupiers, published a statement from Bundy on its website Wednesday.
In that statement, Bundy first addressed the loss of Finicum “one of the greatest men and greatest patriots I have ever seen” whose “love for this country ran deep through the blood he gave yesterday.”
He assured the man’s family, “I’m praying for you fervently in every prayer.”
Then Bundy requested of federal law enforcement that they would “allow the people at the refuge to go home without being prosecuted.”
To those still remaining at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, he wrote “I love you. Let us take this fight from here. Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. Please go home.”
It was questionable whether Bundy’s words would do the trick. Dwight and Steve Hammond, the ranchers whose lengthy prison sentences for a controlled burn that got out of hand sparked this conflict, both surrendered to authorities and disavowed any armed occupation protests.
At the time, Bundy wrote off their disavowal as the result of tremendous pressure being brought to bear on the ranchers by the federal government. Bundy’s arrest left many of his supporters still at the Refuge conflicted over what to do. A few left both before and after his request.
Yet according to John Sepulvado, a journalist for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Burns, there were likely to be a few bitter enders.
“I just spoke to the new leaders,” he tweeted (and here) early Wednesday morning. “They say that 5-6 p[eople] had a meeting, and by consensus they decided to stay. They will not leave, ‘we’re not cowards like the rest,’ say they’re prepared to die.”
