Police: Shooting Of Oregon Occupier Justified, FBI Agents Accused Of Coverup

Occupier LaVoy Finicum speaks to press at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Ore., on January 9, 2016. (Photo by Alex Milan Tracy) *** Please Use Credit from Credit Field ***
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This story has been updated.

While state authorities ruled Oregon State Police troopers’ fatal shooting of Oregon occupier LaVoy Finicum was legally justified, a criminal investigation is underway into a possible cover-up by federal agents.

Eight total shots were fired, with six from Oregon State Police officers and two by FBI agents, Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson said. Nelson said “of the eight shots fired, the six fired by the Oregon state police were justified and in fact necessary.”

But after an investigation into the four bullet holes found in Finicum’s truck after the January shootout near a law enforcement roadblock, authorities traced the fourth shot was fired by an FBI agent who later twice denied firing a shot. Investigators found the agent also fired a second round, which didn’t hit anything at the scene.

Now the investigation has triggered a U.S. Justice Department probe into the agent, who is a member of the elite FBI Hostage Rescue Team, and four other agents on the team.

FBI special agent in charge Greg Bretzing said Finicum “chose to put other people’s lives in danger.”

“The threat Mr. Finicum posed…was real and imminent,” Bretzing said.

Malheur district attorney Dan Norris said out of concern for the safety of the officers involved, their names would not be released. He also said between 70 and 80 “very specific threats” against the troopers’ lives were being investigated.

The Justice Department’s inspector general is investigating and released a statement Tuesday:

Finicum was one of the leaders of the weeks-long standoff between a handful of self-styled militiamen and federal authorities at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon.

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