Ammon Bundy–the man leading a takeover of a federal wildlife refuge–attended a community meeting Tuesday night where residents begged him to get out of town.
Hundreds turned out for the meeting, with many saying that Bundy and his dozens of militiamen accomplices had made their point and it was time for them to head home, according to the Associated Press.
“Ammon, you need to go home to your family; thank you,” one local woman Jennifer Williams said, according to the Associated Press. “I’ve heard so many things I didn’t know before. Now I’m aware.”
The meeting was contentious, but civil. Harney County Sheriff David Ward told community members that authorities were doing their part as he listed off arrests made so far, including arrests against a militiaman who drove a refuge vehicle into town and another who was arrested for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
While Bundy has said his team would head home if it became clear they were unwelcome in the community, Bundy showed no signs of packing up Tuesday.
The militiamen occupied the refuge on Jan. 2, ostensibly to show support for local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, who are now serving a federal prison sentence for arson on federal lands.
