Police say shooting of LaVoy Finicum, Oregon standoff activist, was ‘justified’

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Police say shooting of LaVoy Finicum, Oregon standoff activist, was ‘justified’

Law enforcement officials have called the shooting of LaVoy Finicum,
the activist and spokesman for the Oregon militia standoff, ‘justified’
and have released video footage taken inside his vehicle

Sam Levin in San Francisco
Tuesday 8 March 2016 18.54 GMT

Oregon police were justified when they shot and killed militia spokesperson LaVoy Finicum, according to law enforcement officials, who released a dramatic video of the final moments before the death of the high-profile rightwing activist who helped lead an anti-government standoff at a wildlife refuge.

The Deschutes county sheriff’s office and a local prosecutor in Oregon on Tuesday released a video from inside the vehicle Finicum was driving just before he was killed – footage that shows the 54-year-old Arizona rancher screaming at police, demanding that they let him go or shoot him.

“Go ahead and shoot me,” Finicum shouted on the video, which police say was recorded by militia member Shawna Cox, who was inside the car on 27 January before Finicum was killed. “You back down or you kill me now. Go ahead, put the bullet through me ... Do you want my blood on your hands?” Finicum said.

“Mr Finicum chose to break the law ... and he chose to provoke a confrontation with law enforcement,” FBI special agent Greg Bretzing said a Tuesday morning news conference in Bend, Oregon.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/08/lavoy-finicum-oregon-militia-standoff-police-shooting-video

[Jeffersons Ghost]

1. standoff activist act like right-wing terrorists

[Angry Dragon]

2. He was an armed christian terrorist

they should have droned them all

[tencats]

3. LaVoy Finicum shot 3 times in the back

LaVoy Finicum shot 3 times in back as he reached for gun, investigators say.

Until now, most of what was known came from a soundless surveillance video, a single statement from the FBI and reports from three witnesses who were passengers in Finicum's convoy.

Now, a lengthy video shot inside Finicum's truck adds voice and sound to the tumultuous events as they unfolded that afternoon. Accounts from the state troopers and FBI agents who tried to arrest Finicum and police photographs also round out the picture. Police so far aren't releasing names of any of the officers involved.

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/03/lavoy_finicum_shot_3_times_in.html

[tularetom]

4. Well, of course every police shooting that ever took place was justified according to the police

But based on what I saw (video from the helicopter) and what they have now released, I'd have to say that Mr Finicum was committing suicide by cop.

[0rganism]

5. Finicum's situation was the poster child for a 'justified' shooting

i'd bet $10 that the same people who are complaining about it now were a-okay with what happened to Mike Brown.

[gratuitous]

6. I agree

Unlike any number of other people shot by the cops, Mr. Finicum was actually armed, had demonstrated hostile and violent intent, and given an opportunity to comply with the officers' orders.