The Oregon standoff continued to fall apart Thursday as three more people were arrested and the five remaining occupiers began negotiating the terms of their surrender.
“So we’re just asking them just to drop the charges and we’re just willing to go. And nobody dies,” said a man identified by the Oregonian as occupier David Fry in a video posted early Thursday. “But if they’re not willing to do that, we’re all just kind of willing to stay here and see what happens.”
“Are they really going to kill five people?” he asked.
Three people were arrested Wednesday afternoon as they left the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and hit FBI checkpoints surrounding the region. Another five people were released after they were stopped as they left the compound, according to an FBI statement.
“All were in contact with the FBI, and each chose turn himself in to agents at a checkpoint outside the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge,” said the FBI statement. “The arrests were without incident.”
In the video, taped at a campfire outside the refuge, Mr. Fry said the remaining five trapped at the refuge are negotiating with FBI agents to end the occupation, which began Jan. 2 as a protest against federal public-lands policy.
SEE ALSO: Oregon standoff: Militants refuse to leave refuge even after Ammon Bundy arrest
“Out of five people left here, four of us are allowed to leave and one of them, he’s charged with a felony. He has a felony warrant,” said Mr. Fry on the video.
He added, “We’re willing to leave. … We’re being reasonable and trying to be peaceful. But they keep saying they can’t do that. He has to be charged.”
The three people arrested Wednesday were charged with the same felony count — conspiracy to impede officers of the United States through the use of force, intimidation or threats — as the eight occupiers arrested Tuesday.
Among those arrested Tuesday after their vehicles were pulled over by law enforcement were occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy.
At his arraignment Wednesday in Portland, Ammon Bundy asked the rest of the occupiers to “please stand down” in a message read by his attorney, as shown on KOIN-TV.
The three arrested Wednesday were Dylan Wade Anderson, 34, of Provo, Utah; Duane Leo Ehmer, 45, of Irrigon, Oregon, and Jason S. Patrick, 43, of Bonaire, Georgia.
SEE ALSO: Ammon Bundy tells Oregon occupiers after court hearing to ‘stand down’
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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