Princeton, Oregon – The 41-day armed occupation of a rural Oregon wildlife refuge finally came to an end after the final four surrendered to the authorities. The conflict between anti-federal militants and FBI ended “peacefully” with no one injured and no shots fired, according to the federal authorities.
David Fry, the last to surrender, gave a dramatic turn to the situation after he expressed suicidal thoughts and declared he had a loaded gun to his head. He refused to follow the already three protesters surrendered.
“I want you to just understand I’m actually pointing a gun at my head. I’m just tired of living here. You guys took everything away from me for doing nothing wrong,” Fry said through a phone call carried out live on Youtube, which had thousands of listeners across the country.
The last man standing expressed his disappointment that supporters did not gather to join the occupiers in their stand against the federal government and their land policy. He also said that he was protesting federal tax dollars going to abortion, Obamacare and war in the Middle East, according to Los Angeles Times.
Fry said his demands and grievances against the federal government had not been addressed, but he later carried on with the surrendering and abandoning of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County.
Ammon Bundy and others started out last year their protest against the sentencing of Dwight Hammond and his son Steven, ranchers who were convicted of arson on federal lands in Oregon, as reported by CNN. The Bundy family have been known for their opposition to the declaration of federal lands, to which they lost their ranch several years ago.
On January 2, a march supporting the Hammonds led to the armed occupation of the refuge building, with the premise that the government overreach when it came to federal lands and it was not until today the armed conflict came to rest.
The last surrender came hours after the arrest of Cliven Bundy, Ammon Bundy’s father and anti-government activist whose refusal to pay federal grazing fees led to another armed standoff two years ago.
Source: CNN