How the Oregon occupation’s supporters are reacting to the FBI’s video of fatal shooting

“We know there is quite a bit of interest related to the events as they occurred on Highway 395 on Tuesday afternoon,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing.

He was referring to the confrontation between the armed occupiers of a wildlife refuge in rural Oregon and law enforcement officials that resulted in the shooting death of LaVoy Finicum, a high profile participant in the nearly month-long occupation.

So, in an effort "to lay out an honest and unfiltered view of what happened and how it happened" Bretzing said at a news conference Thursday, authorities released a graphic, 26-minute video of the encounter that had been filmed from an FBI plane.

It showed, Bretzing explained, that Finicum had driven away from the officers and reached twice toward his jacket pocket – where authorities say he had a loaded handgun – when Oregon State Police troopers fired and fatally shot him.

Amid anger and unverified claims from some of the occupation's supporters that Finicum had his hands up when he was fired on, the news conference aimed to put an end to rampant speculation about the circumstances surrounding his death.

“I think the video speaks for itself,” Bretzing said.

Perhaps to him, and to many other viewers.

But not to some of the most ardent advocates of the armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that stretched on for weeks and brought aspects of life in a rural corner of southeastern Oregon to a standstill.

"AMBUSH!" read a Facebook post from the Bundy Ranch, which belongs to the father of the occupation's leader Ammon Bundy.

"LaVoy was murdered in cold blood with his hands up; just as Ammon said. They did not even tend to him until 10 minutes later," it continued. "Our hearts are breaking; we will never forget. We will stand peaceful and principled to restore liberty."

The day before, the Bundy Ranch page had shared an audio clip from Victoria Sharp, a woman who said she was in the truck driven by Finicum when he was shot, in which she gives her account of the incident.

Sharp said that another occupier, Ryan Payne, was trying to convince officers to let her and another woman out of the truck, when officers fired. Then Finicum sped off, yelling that he was going go "talk to the sheriff," before ramming into a snow bank, she said.

"He got out of the car and he had his hands in the air and he was like, 'Just shoot me then. Is this what you want? Just shoot me.'"

"And they did," she said. "They shot him dead."

Others, including the failed Washington congressional candidate and self-proclaimed "liberty speaker" Gavin Seim, said Thursday that the aerial footage showed an unjustified shooting.

“The facts show clearly LaVoy was murdered. He was shot while his hands were still in the air,” Seim wrote on Facebook. “Let's make sure the world knows it.”

A page called "Citizens for Constitutional Freedom Support Group" referred to the fatal shooting as a "cold blooded assassination."

In the video released Thursday, Finicum appears to have his hands up as he exits the truck. Then he pulls his arms inward – when Bretzing says that he was reaching into the pocket holding his weapon. Shortly after, the state troopers fire and he falls to the ground.

After this, Bretzing said that the law enforcement officers used flashbangs to disorient the rest of the people in the truck, as well as sponge projectiles containing a substance similar to pepper spray.

They removed the remaining occupants from the truck – Ryan Bundy, Shawna Cox and a third, unnamed woman – and then went to provide medical assistance to Finicum when they believed it was safe, about 10 minutes after the shooting.

In addition to Finicum’s handgun, Bretzing said that agents found three other loaded weapons inside the truck: two semi-automatic rifles and a revolver.

Just as Bundy's occupation divided even those who were sympathetic to his cause, members of patriot groups, militia networks and other anti-government activists Thursday seemed wary of making claims about what happened during the highway standoff based solely on the FBI's aerial footage.

“There's so much that doesn't make sense,” said Brian Miller, a commanding officer of the national Three Percenters Club (a group that pledges armed resistance to gun control efforts and federal government overreach.)

Miller and his group have criticized the Oregon occupation in the past, arguing that it's not the right time or place for this kind of stand, though he sympathizes with Bundy’s motives.

He said his group has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for dash-cam and body camera footage of the shooting and arrests, which he said are necessary to make an “educated decision” about how to respond.

“I don't want to make any statement until I see that,” he said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 7:40 AM with the headline "How the Oregon occupation’s supporters are reacting to the FBI’s video of fatal shooting."