The occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, undertaken 41 days ago with guns and threats, ended Thursday with the peaceful surrender of four holdouts after an hourlong negotiation with the last protester.
Those taken into custody by the
were David Fry, 27, of the Cincinnati area, Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada, Sean Anderson, 47, and his wife, Sandy, 48, of Riggins, Idaho. They each face a federal conspiracy charge for their role in the occupation, joining at least 12 others already arraigned on that charge.
At the final moment after the first three had walked out, Fry said he was feeling suicidal and wouldn't give himself up. He demanded to talk to an
negotiator by phone as others repeatedly urged him to calm down and walk out.
"I'm a free man and I will die a free man," Fry said as the frantic conversation played out on a live feed online.
Over an hour, Fry rebuffed supporters again and again, saying he feared going to prison and losing his freedom.
Fry had played a role throughout the occupation, providing social media help to the protesters.
"We will pray you out," a woman's voice was heard saying at one point, but then Fry said he was pointing a gun at his head.
"I'm really confused right now," he said as the entreaties continued for him to leave the refuge.
Finally, Fry said he wanted a cigarette and cookie and started walking out.
The
confirmed minutes later about 11 a.m. that he was in custody.
"We are all relieved our prayers were answered," Fry's father, Bill Fry, said in a text message to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
By contrast, the surrender of the others appeared to go off as planned.
No one was injured and no shots were fired, the
said in a statement.
"The occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge has been a long and traumatic episode for the citizens of Harney County and the members of the Burns Paiute tribe. It is a time for healing, reconciliation amongst neighbors and friends, and allowing for life to get back to normal," said Billy J. Williams,
attorney for the District of Oregon.
Earlier Thursday, Sandy Anderson wrote on Facebook: "It's a very sad day for me as we plan to turn ourselves over to the very people we fought so hard against."
Her husband said in his own post that their stand against what they believe is an overreaching federal government is coming "to an end."
Their surrender came with the involvement of Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore and evangelist Franklin Graham. Fiore, a Republican running for Congress, spent hours on the phone with the occupiers, discussions that were transmitted live into the night via YouTube.
Graham, president of the North Carolina evangelistic operation founded by his father Billy Graham, confirmed in his own Facebook post that he expected to arrive in Oregon early Thursday.
He wrote that he had been talking to the holdouts every day for the last week, done at their request and of the
"Last night I was on the phone with them for several hours, was able to have prayer with them, and they have said they would come out today," Graham wrote. He said he was expecting to arrive in the area of the refuge by 7 a.m.
The surrender followed days of video posts and telephone calls from the occupiers to supporters to say they would leave only if they were granted immunity.
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters
They have been alone in their makeshift camp at the refuge since Jan. 28. Two days earlier, police arrested the top leadership of the occupation. Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, 54, an Arizona rancher who was one of the main spokesmen for the takeover, was shot and killed during the highway stop after he tried to elude police.
The refuge quickly emptied of the remaining occupiers as the
promised free passage for those who went. Three occupiers who didn't immediately leave were arrested the next day when they did try to get out of the refuge, leaving behind the four.
The Andersons, transplants to Idaho from Wisconsin, had made several trips to the refuge since Bundy's group took it over. Banta, a construction worker, arrived just the day before Bundy was arrested.
On Wednesday, an audience that at times numbered 60,000 people listened in as occupiers confronted
agents surrounding them. Fiore, who had traveled to Portland for a Thursday news conference regarding the jailed occupiers, got on the line with them, coaxing them to remain peaceful and to surrender. Over and over, she got the group to pause to pray when their agitation with their circumstances seemed to escalate.
Fiore promised that the cause for which they fought a defending citizen rights under the Constitution a would go on even if they were arrested.
That defense of the Constitution has been at the heart of the takeover. Ammon Bundy, son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, launched the occupation after he failed to find a way to keep a local ranching pair from going to prison.
Ammon Bundy has insisted that Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven, were wrongly prosecuted on federal arson charges. Bundy came to their defense after a federal judge in October ordered them back to prison to finish five-year terms. They reported to a California prison Jan. 4.
Once in control of the refuge headquarters, Bundy and other occupiers demanded that the Hammonds be freed. They also insisted that the refuge property, 187,000 acres of prime bird sanctuary, be turned over to Harney County to manage or to private owners. The county said it didn't want and couldn't afford such a transfer.
Now the last of what fluctuated between an estimated 20 to 40 core occupiers are in custody.
The
said there were "dozens of highly armed militants occupying, visiting and supplying the refuge" over the duration of the takeover.
"Much work is left to assess the crime scene and damage to the refuge and tribal artifacts," Williams said in his statement. "We are committed to seeing the job done and to pursue justice for the crimes committed during the illegal occupation."
A federal grand jury last week indicted 16 people in the occupation on the conspiracy count and unsealed an indictment naming seven more Thursday on the same charge.
Named in the first indictments:
* Dylan Wade Anderson, age 34, of Provo, Utah
* Sandra Lynn Anderson, age 48, of Riggins, Idaho
* Sean Larry Anderson, age 47, of Riggins, Idaho
* Jeff Wayne Banta, age 46, of Yerington, Nevada
* Ammon Edward Bundy, age 40, of Emmett, Idaho
* Ryan C. Bundy, age 43, of Bunkerville, Nevada
* Brian Cavalier, age 44, of Bunkerville, Nevada
* Shawna Cox, age 59, Kanab, Utah
* Duane Leo Ehmer, age 45, of Irrigon, Oregon
* David Lee Fry, age 27, of Blanchester, Ohio
* Kenneth Medenbach, age 62, of Crescent, Oregon
* Joseph Donald
haughnessy, age 45, of Cottonwood, Arizona
* Jason S. Patrick, age 43, of Bonaire, Georgia
* Ryan Waylen Payne, age 32, of Anaconda, Montana
* Jon Eric Ritzheimer, age 32, Peoria, Arizona
* Peter Santilli, age 50, of Cincinnati, Ohio
Named in the new indictment:
*Blaine Cooper, age 36, of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona
*Corey Lequieu, age 44, of Fallon, Nevada
*Neil Wampler, age 68, of Los Osos, California
*Jason Charles Blomgren, age 41, of Murphy, North Carolina
*Darryl William Thorn, age 31, of Marysville, Washington
*Wesley Kjar, age 32, of Manti, Utah
*Eric Lee Flores, age 22, of Tulalip, Washington
All seven have been arrested and are scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday or Friday. Two others facing charges have not yet been arrested.
--A Les Zaitz
(503) 221-8181; @leszaitz