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On January 26, 2016, a convoy of vehicles moved along a remote highway in eastern Oregon, cutting through miles of snow-covered ranchland. Inside one of the trucks was LaVoy Finicum, a rancher who had become one of the most visible figures in the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. State and federal officers had been tracking the group for miles, waiting for the moment to stop them. When the vehicles were finally intercepted, the situation unraveled quickly. Finicum's truck left the road and came to a stop in deep snow as officers surrounded the scene with rifles drawn. Moments later, Finicum stepped out of the vehicle and began moving through the snow. Within seconds, gunfire erupted.
What happened in those final moments remains sharply contested. While many argue he was fired upon without provocation, authorities maintain he posed a clear and immediate threat and that officers acted in self-defense. In this episode, we will examine what was reported, what the evidence shows, and what questions still remain unsolved. Who was Robert LaVoy Finicum? What was he doing in Oregon? What actually happened? Hello, I'm Colin Heaton, former history professor, Army and Marine Corps veteran, and welcome to this episode of Forgotten History.
Beginning of the toughest 26 days in Marine Corps history. With confidence in our armed forces. 36th President of the United States died this afternoon. Call them. There's children and women in here. They call it off. Hello everyone. This is LaVoy Finicum. It's been a while since I've made a video, but I think it's time I made another one. Robert LaVoy Finicum was born on January 27, 1961 in Kanab, Utah. In 2002, he filed for bankruptcy while living in New Mexico and doing business as Southwest Horse and Trails.
He began to operate a foster home for troubled boys near Chino Valley, Arizona in 2008. And according to tax filings in 2010, Catholic Charities Community Services in Arizona paid the family $115,343 to foster children through 2009. The Bureau of Land Management filed a claim that Finicum was grazing two dozen head of cattle on federal land, starting a legal standoff similar to what the Bundy ranch had experienced. And see our video on the Bundy ranch. After the BLM drained one of his water storage tanks on his property to fight a grass fire, he exclaimed, I don't care if they take half of it and take 50,000 gallons of it. They can't take 100,000 gallons of it. It's mine.
It's for my cows. I need it. And they didn't pay for it. They didn't ask for it. They just took it. He posted his protest on YouTube and asked, Here, I'm going to post this and tell them to knock it off. They take more than half, they better come and ask me. Quit stealing. It's not theirs. He concluded, It'd be really nice if they'd take one of those tankers and come out here and fill it up. Replace it. Or how about they just leave it alone? In June 2015, as he wrote the following in two separate letters to the Bureau of Land Management, three days apart, they read in part, "At this time, I feel compelled to stand up for the Constitution of our land and in doing so, please do not feel that I'm
attacking your character. This is not about cows and grass, access, or resources. This is about freedom and defending our Constitution in its original intent. I am severing my association with the BLM." Finicum was referencing Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 of the Constitution, which clearly states that land within the boundaries of any state may only be acquired by the national government if it has the consent of the state legislature and then it can only acquire it for the placement of military forts, arsenals, dockyards, and other necessary buildings. Private property must be paid for if involving eminent domain issues by the state or federal governments. Although he owned a cattle ranch,
Finicum, who had a large family of 11 children, claimed that cows just covered the cost of the ranch. According to BLM, Finicum incurred more than $12,000 in fees and fines in less than 6 months, which he refused to pay. He had openly expressed his displeasure over ranchers being pushed out of grazing lands such as the Bundy ranch and the Grand Canyon Paunsaugunt. As a result of this impasse, in January 2016, the state removed all Finicum's foster children because of his involvement with the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Finicum went there to support ranchers and farmers like him opposing government encroachment.
This was where the real story begins. On January 2nd, 2016, LaVoy joined Cliven Bundy's sons, Ryan and Ammon, and other protesters at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, taking a stand against the BLM, claiming they were encroaching upon private land, taking water and grazing rights unconstitutionally. Like at the Bundy ranch, they occupied the area and began a peaceful 41-day standoff with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. The national news took interest in LaVoy and called him the tarp man for sitting in a rocking chair outside holding a rifle on his lap. He became famous. On January 26th, Finicum, with Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Shawna Cox, Ryan Payne, Victoria Sharp, and Brian Cavalier, left the refuge to speak at a
senior center in John Day, Grant County. They left in two vehicles. Finicum drove his white Dodge pickup truck while the others followed in a Jeep. Law enforcement was alerted to their departure and set up a roadblock on Oregon Highway 395 in Harney County. LaVoy had been in constant contact with Sheriff Glenn Palmer, who was kept out of the federal standoff and not even informed due to his public support of the ranchers. Approaching the first roadblock, Finicum drove away and a shot was fired that hit his driver's side view mirror. And while trying to avoid a spike strip, Finicum braked and swerved, crashing into a snowbank trying to bypass the
second roadblock. Bullets were fired at Finicum's vehicle again before he could stop. Oregon Highway Patrolman Casey Codding fired on LaVoy's truck before it ever stopped. What actually happened was that two shots were fired by FBI agent Joseph Astarita after LaVoy jumped from the vehicle. One shot struck the truck roof and the other went wide. A bullet hit the truck ceiling as he exited the vehicle with hands raised. Finicum exited the truck and according to the official narrative, he ignored repeated commands by a trooper who had holstered his firearm, approached Finicum with a non-lethal Taser X2 to get on the ground. Finicum reportedly
said, You back down or you kill me now. Go ahead. Put the bullet through me. I don't care. Where's Ryan? I'm going to go meet the sheriff. You do as you damn well please. Finicum was shot in the side by a bullet and his reaching around to touch the wound was the pretext to claim that he was reaching for a weapon. Coddington then shot Finicum twice in the back. But then the official story released was that Finicum was armed and dangerous and having a weapon, which he was reaching for when he was shot, justified the shooting.
The report said that he was reaching into his jacket, where officers later found a loaded semi-automatic weapon. They said in sworn statements that Finicum was holding his jacket with his left hand and reaching for a pocket with his right. That was when two troopers fired a total of three times. A third trooper held his fire. Medical assistance was not given to Finicum for about 15 minutes after the shooting, allowing him to bleed out. But the government narrative was in jeopardy. Officials stated that he was reaching for a gun in his pocket when he was shot. Another version was that a weapon was seen. The FBI said that a loaded handgun was found in Finicum's pocket and identified as a Ruger 9mm SR9 handgun, a gift from his stepson.
But there was a problem. Passenger Shawna Cox captured the entire event on her cell phone. His public autopsy was performed on January 28th, but officials withheld the autopsy report from the press until March 8th. The cause of death was listed as three gunshot wounds to the back, abdomen, and chest. If Finicum was pulling a weapon to engage, why did he not face the troopers? The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office investigators processed the scene of the shooting. There were two known sets of shots fired by the troopers that killed Finicum and the earlier FBI shots that struck his vehicle. And this was proven
when they discovered a bullet that struck the roof of the truck at a different trajectory. After ascertaining the bullet's existence with the cell phone video taken by Shawna Cox, investigators modeled the bullet's trajectory using computers and determined that the bullet was fired from where two FBI agents were located. It was determined that an FBI Hostage Rescue Team member fired twice at Finicum but missed him, wounding a second person in his group. The agent, whose identity was originally withheld, was placed under investigation along with four other FBI agents who were suspected of attempting to conceal evidence of the gunshots and giving false statements. They told
investigators that none of them fired a shot during the incident. As is usual, the cover-up was proof of the crime. During the investigation, the rifle cartridge casings fired by the FBI agents were reported not being present in the evidence collection. But a state trooper later described seeing the two casings at the scene where the FBI agents were positioned. The FBI aerial surveillance video shows agents searching the area, then talking together before separating a few moments later. This is when one agent bent over twice to pick up two unknown objects, more than likely the rifle cartridge casings.
Law enforcement officials began the investigation into the gunshots after watching the full surveillance video and suspecting something was amiss. Two FBI pickup trucks were searched for the casings, but none were found. While at least three troopers were interrogated about their initial processing of the crime scene. On March 8th, officials revealed their findings to the public. The US Department of Justice launched an investigation into the conduct of the agents. The Umatilla County Sheriff's Office investigators, along with the district attorneys of Malheur and Harney counties, declared that Finicum's shooting was justified and necessary. But facts can sometimes be ugly things.
On April 5th, the cell phone video footage shot by Cox was released. STAY DOWN. The official state and local investigation concluded that two Oregon State Police officers fired the three shots that struck and killed Finicum. This same investigation said they also fired three earlier shots into the truck as it approached the roadblock. The Harney County District Attorney concluded that the six shots were legally justified under Oregon's deadly force standard.
FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita was alleged to have fired two shots at Finicum's pickup, which were originally denied. One of the shots penetrated the roof of the pickup and exited through a window. The FBI agents were believed to have recovered the ejected empty cartridges, which is evidence tampering. A five-count indictment was filed against Astarita by the Department of Justice in Portland for making false statements, evidence tampering, and obstruction of justice. A public defender represented Astarita, and his trial began in Portland in late July 2018. In an amazing turn of events, a federal grand jury found Astarita to be not guilty on all charges on August 10th, 2018, despite the overwhelming
evidence. Remember, the DOJ could not have another scandal. After all, it was a midterm election year. The government withheld the names of the state troopers from the report until during Astarita's trial, when one witness accidentally identified one of the shooters as Lieutenant Casey Codding, who was at that time then superintendent. But the problems with the official story would not go away. The OIG said the FBI's handling of the scene created a conflict with crime scene preservation procedures and documented that shell casings from roadway shots were not recovered while FBI agents had denied firing at all.
Now, remember the aerial surveillance video and the trooper who saw the cartridges? Eight shots had been fired in total that day. The report states that only two shell casings were found at the scene. Also contradicting the official story that Finicum was a danger to the troopers was the Oregon State Medical Examiner's findings as summarized by the district attorney at the March 8, 2016 press conference, where Finicum was shown to be struck by three bullets in the torso entering through his back. The investigation said those three bullets were matched to the state troopers, primarily Cotter. Once again, the question, if not facing the troopers, one,
how could they know he was reaching for anything? And two, how could they have seen a weapon? And three, how could a weapon have been produced if it was still in his pocket as one report claimed? On May 12th, more than a dozen Arizona politicians wrote a letter to Oregon Governor Kate Brown, in which they asked her to conduct another more transparent investigation into Finicum's death using all the evidence. But many people remained unsatisfied. On January 26, 2018, Finicum's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the United States District Court in Pendleton, Oregon against the United States government, primarily against the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Oregon State Police, the Bureau of Land Management, the Oregon Governor Kate
Brown, Greg Bretzing, former FBI special agent in charge Astarita, US Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, former US Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward, Harney County Commissioner Steven Grasty, the Center for Biological Diversity, and additional unnamed officers. The suit sought more than $5 million in damages for Finicum's wife and each of their children and his estate. Kieran Suckling, the executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, called the suit a bizarre, incoherent, yet nonetheless dangerous attack on free speech. On July 24th, 2020, Federal Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan dismissed claims
against all defendants except the Oregon State Police. In August 2021, US District Judge Michael W. Mosman dismissed the family's claims against the Oregon State Police, the former state police superintendent Cotter, the state troopers who fired at Finicum, all claims filed against the federal government, the FBI, Harney County, and former Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward. Only the civil rights claim against Governor Kate Brown remained. But this is an amazing turn of events. Given the dangerous assaults and violence exhibited by extremists in the protest of Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street, Antifa, and see our videos on Antifa and Black Lives Matter, which were supported by the Obama administration, these protests led to
billions of dollars in property damage and in fact cost lives without any serious prosecutions and even a bailout fund for the domestic terrorist. There isn't any justification for the actions of law enforcement against LaVoy and his fellow protesters, who were in fact protesting peacefully, even if they had taken over Malheur. So, was the shooting of Finicum justified or was it a crime? Was there a political cover-up? We let you decide. But goddammit, it's got to stop. Um BLM, here I am. You want to pick on somebody? Come pick on me.
My cows are out here. You tell me you got to get them off. I'm not taking them off. You know, you want to play those antics with other people, harass them, destroy their lives, well, here I am. You can pick on me. Come on, pick on me. And uh I'm not going anywhere. Right on, it's time somebody stands up tells you go fly a kite. Well, I'm kind of upset, as you can tell. Got a lot to do before I go home and get some dinner tonight, so we'll catch you later. And bye. Thank you for watching this episode of Forgotten History. If you liked what you saw, please click like, share, and subscribe. And if you would like to
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