Ammon Bundy has told the protesters remaining at an Oregon wildlife refuge to "stand down" and go home while he remains jailed after a shootout with authorities that killed a fellow activist and wounded his brother.
Details of the incident still remained sketchy on Thursday.
Bundy and six others who took over the the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns earlier this month were arraigned Wednesday in U.S. district court in Portland, according to
The Oregonian. He and several others were stopped by FBI agents and other law officers while heading to a community meeting outside the compound, reported
USA Today, and a confrontation followed.
One man, Robert Levoy Finicum, was killed and Ryan Bundy suffered a minor gunshot wound, said The Oregonian.
"We'll have more to say later, but right now I'm asking the federal government to allow the people at the refuge to go home without being prosecuted," Bundy said a statement through his attorney.
"To those remaining at the refuge, I love you. Let us take this fight from here. Please stand down. Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. This fight is ours for now in the courts. Please go home."
KATU-TV said authorities arrested three more people who had occupied the refuge after they turned themselves in elsewhere. The FBI said several vehicles left the area before authorities established checkpoints in and out of the refuge.
Duane Leo Ehmer, 45, of Irrigon, Oregon; Dylan Wade Anderson, 34, of Provo, Utah; and Jason S. Patrick, 43, of Bonaire, Georgia, were identified as others who turned themselves into law enforcement.
Patrick told KATU-TV earlier that he was been part of the occupation since it started on Jan. 2 but would not reveal how many more of the protesters were still inside the refuge.
He responded, "I'm an American," when asked what was his role with Bundy's group,
Those arrested so far have been charged with a federal felony count of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats, according to USA Today.
The armed protesters took over the refuge Jan. 2 to protest federal land-use policies and the imprisonment of two Oregon ranchers, said The Oregonian.
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