Oregon Protesters Urged to Leave After Ammon Bundy Arrest

From top left, booking photographs of Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Brian Cavalier, Shawna Cox. From bottom left, Joseph Donald O’Shaughnessy, Ryan Payne, Jon Eric Ritzheimer and Peter Santilli.

By DAVE SEMINARA, JULIE TURKEWITZ and RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA, NYT
JAN. 27, 2016

BURNS, Ore. — A day after a leader of the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge was killed and eight other antigovernment activists were arrested, law enforcement officials called on those who remained at the refuge to go home, saying they had only themselves to blame for what had happened.

With conflicting versions of the showdown making the rounds online, the officials, at a news conference here on Wednesday, did not offer any details about the shooting that killed the activist or the arrests, but said they had done what they could to bring about a peaceful resolution.

“The armed occupiers have been given ample opportunities to leave,” said Greg Bretzing, the F.B.I. special agent in charge for Oregon. “Instead these individuals have chosen to threaten and intimidate the America they profess to love, and through their criminal actions to bring these consequences upon themselves.”

“Let me be clear,” he added, “it is the actions and choices of the armed occupiers that have led us to where we are today.”

(More here.)