One person was killed Tuesday as authorities arrested a group of people — including Ammon Bundy — involved with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, authorities said.
The person killed, who has not been identified, was the subject of a federal probable cause arrest, the FBI and Oregon State Police said.
Those arrested include Bundy, who has led the armed occupation near Burns for 25 days; his brother, Ryan Bundy; and Brian Cavalier, Shawna Cox and Ryan Waylen Payne, authorities said.
Authorities said shots were fired during the arrest, along Highway 395. They did not say who fired first.
One of those arrested suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital, the FBI and state police said. A law enforcement official told CNN Ryan Bundy sustained minor injuries.
Separately, a sixth person — Joseph Donald O’Shaughnessy — was arrested in Burns, authorities said.
All six arrested face a federal felony charge of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats, authorities said.
The group of protesters has occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since January 2 to protest federal land policies.
Ammon Bundy, son of controversial Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, and others started out protesting the sentencing of Dwight Hammond and his son Steven, ranchers convicted of arson on federal lands in Oregon.
But a march supporting the Hammonds led to the armed occupation of the refuge, with occupiers decrying what they call government overreach when it comes to federal lands.
Last week, Oregon’s governor said that she’d had enough of the protest at the refuge in Harney County, in the southeastern corner of her state.
“The residents of Harney County have been overlooked and underserved by federal officials’ response thus far,” Gov. Kate Brown said during a news conference. “This spectacle of lawlessness must end. And until Harney County is free of it I will not stop insisting that federal officials enforce the law.”
