Shooting video does little to ease Harney County divisions

The divisions that have torn Burns and Harney County since armed occupiers took over the nearby Malheur National Wildlife Refuge nearly a month ago were still evident Friday as residents reacted in shock to the FBI’s video of the fatal shooting of a protest leader.

Some ranchers are blaming Gov. Kate Brown and other officials for putting pressure on federal agents to end the refuge occupation.

The roadblocks and FBI and Oregon State Police checkpoints were still in place Friday, though closer to the refuge headquarters, as the last four holdouts posted videos saying they were seeking not just to avoid charges but pardons for the 11 arrested occupiers.

After FBI investigators late Thursday released aerial footage of the traffic stop and fatal shooting of LaVoy Finicum, many still have questions.

“It’s a shame — it’s a shame. It didn’t have to happen,” resident Mark Kahn said.

The FBI said it released the video to counter widely circulated claims that Finicum was shot with his hands up or on his knees.

Khan said he’s looked at the video several times, and it looks to him like Finicum was having a hard time walking in the knee-deep snow.

Khan also said he believes officials dragged their feet when it came to ending the occupation.

“It could have been avoided,” he said. “This whole thing was too long.”

A few local ranchers stood out in front of the Harney County Courthouse on Friday, holding signs that read, among others, “Ambushed and Assassinated.”

They said they don’t blame the officers who shot and killed Finicum, but the state and county government for the outcome.

“I’m casting blame more at the governor and even some of our local officials who were putting pressure to end the standoff,” one said. “I don’t think it had to come to bloodshed like that.”

The refuge standoff has been causing deep divisions in. Harney County.

“It was tearing a lot of people apart, families arguing within,” Kahn said. “We didn’t like it. It didn’t have to be that way.”

For others, like Alvin Clayborne, it’s still hard to grasp what exactly happened.

“It kind of makes you mad, in a way,” he said. “So far, I’ve seen it about five different ways, I really don’t know the exact thing what happened.”

For rancher Andy Dunbar, who lives near the wildlife refuge, the continued high presence of federal agents is not keeping him and others from what they love to do for a living.

“Well, it’s home,” Dunbar said. “It’s always been home. This is my life here.”

No one knows how long the four last militia members will hold out before the standoff ends and federal agents go in.

“Well, I’ll just be glad for this to all be over with,” Dunbar said.

In our latest KTVZ.COM Poll, we’re asking whether you believe police were justified in their actions late Tuesday afternoon on Highway 395 north of Burns. You can find the poll about halfway down the right side of our home page.