UPDATED WITH TIME LINE OF EVENTS : Ammon Bundy was arrested during a traffic stop.
A man has been killed and another wounded as federal officers arrested the leader of an anti-government militia occupying a wildlife refuge in rural Oregon.
Those arrested all had leadership roles in the militia laying seige to the remote Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the agency said.
Protesters were understood to be still occupying the refuge following the confrontation and the FBI has set up a cordon around the complex.
Bundy, 40, was reportedly on the way to a community meeting he was scheduled to speak at when authorities stopped his vehicle.
Ryan Bundy, Ammon’s brother, suffered a minor gunshot wound during the arrests, the Oregonian newspaper reported.
A 25 mile (40 km) stretch of the highway was shut following the incident.
The six people arrested face federal charges of conspiracy to use force, intimidation or threats to impede federal officers from discharging their duties, the FBI said.
The activist group took over the refuge on 2 January.
Bundy said they were acting at the request of a rancher who wanted to graze his cattle on federal property, but was stopped from doing so when the US Fish and Wildlife Service put up a fence last year.
The occupiers also said they were supporting two local ranchers who were sent back to prison this month for setting fires that spread to federal land. Both ranchers have distanced themselves from the movement.
Burns Mayor Craig LaFollette said: “I think my perception is that people’s patience was running thin and that the community as a whole was looking for some resolution and to have these people leave.”
The occupation is the latest flare-up in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, a decades-old conflict over the US government’s control of millions acres of land in the West.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS AND INFORMATION OF PERSON KILLED ~
BURNS, Ore. (AP) —
The latest on an armed group that took over buildings at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon (all times local):
10:10 p.m.
The Oregonian reports that an Arizona rancher was killed when authorities arrested leaders of an armed group that has been occupying a national wildlife refuge.
Authorities did not identify the person killed, saying only that it was an adult male who died in an “officer involved shooting” during law officers’ confrontation with Ammon Bundy and his followers during a traffic stop outside Burns, Oregon.
However Arianna Finicum Brown told ( http://bit.ly/1nOammV ) the Portland, Oregon, newspaper that the man killed was her father – 55-year-old Robert “LaVoy” Finicum of Cane Beds, Arizona. LaVoy Finicum was a frequent and public presence at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, often speaking for the group at news conferences.
9:15 p.m.
The FBI says one of the occupiers of the wildlife refuge in Oregon has surrendered to police in Arizona, raising the total number of arrests to eight.
FBI said Jon Eric Ritzheimer turned himself in Tuesday night at the police department in Peoria, Arizona.
Like the others who were arrested, Ritzheimer faces a felony charge of conspiracy to impede federal officials in their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.
The 32-year-old Ritzheimer was among the most visible of the occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
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8:40 p.m.
Authorities say the person who died in law officers’ confrontation with Ammon Bundy and his followers is an adult male.
The Harney County Sheriff’s Office gave no other information on the deceased.
The FBI had earlier said an individual “who was a subject of a federal probable cause arrest is deceased.”
The FBI meanwhile said a defendant who had been injured during the Tuesday confrontation was treated at a hospital and was released into FBI custody. The person was not identified.
The Harney County Sheriff’s Office said no law enforcement personnel were injured.
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8 p.m.
The FBI has announced another arrest in the confrontation with Ammon Bundy and his followers, bringing the total number of those arrested to seven.
The FBI said 50-year-old Peter Santilli of Cincinnati, Ohio was arrested at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Burns.
Santilli has been operating an online talk-radio show during the occupation of the wildlife refuge.
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7:50 p.m.
The FBI says Ammon Bundy and the others who were arrested face felony charges of conspiracy to impede the duties of federal officials through the use of “force, intimidation, or threats.”
The FBI also said it continues to work with the Harney County sheriff, Oregon State Police and the U.S. Attorney’s office to address any other issues.
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6:55 p.m.
Authorities say shots were fired during the arrest of members of an armed group that has occupied a national wildlife refuge in Oregon for more than three weeks.
In a statement Tuesday, the FBI said one individual “who was a subject of a federal probable cause arrest is deceased.” No other information about the deceased was immediately released.
The FBI said authorities arrested Ammon Bundy, 40, his brother Ryan Bundy, 43, Brian Cavalier, 44, Shawna Cox, 59, and Ryan Payne, 32, during a traffic stop Tuesday afternoon on U.S. Highway 395. Authorities said another person, Joseph Donald O’Shaughnessy, 45, was arrested in Burns.
Bundy’s group, which has included people from as far away as Arizona and Michigan, seized the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 as part of a long-running dispute over public lands in the West.
Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a high-profile 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights.
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6:40 p.m.
A more than 50-mile stretch of highway in Oregon has been closed near where an armed group has been occupying a national wildlife refuge.
The Oregon Department of Transportation reported on its website that U.S. 395 was closed between the towns of Burns and John Day on Tuesday evening. The Oregonian reports (http://bit.ly/1UpuciO ) that there had been a meeting scheduled between some members of the group and local residents in John Day on Tuesday night.
Federal and state law enforcement did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
A group led by Ammon Bundy seized the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns on Jan. 2 as part of a long-running dispute over public lands in the West.
Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a high-profile 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights.
