U.S. wildlife refuge to remain closed after end of militia occupation

A wildlife refuge in the U.S. northwestern state of Oregon will remain closed after the last four militiamen surrendered early Thursday, a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said.

At a press conference Thursday in Burns, a town some 50 km north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in rural eastern Oregon, Greg Bretzing said the FBI would treat the federal facility as a crime scene and send in several teams for "quite a bit of work."

He explained the FBI would spend "a number of weeks" to ensure that no one else was hiding in there, clear the compound of possible explosives, collect evidence of potential crimes committed during the 41-day occupation by the militiamen, and assess damage to a local Indian tribe's artifacts and sacred burial grounds.

Earlier in the day, David Fry of Ohio walked out from the refuge to a checkpoint outside the compound and was brought into the FBI's custody. Previously, he appeared to be unwilling to give up and threatened to kill himself.

According to the FBI's account, three other armed occupiers, Jeff Banta of Nevada and Sean Anderson and Sandra Anderson of Idaho, also turned themselves in.

They were members of an armed group led by Ammon Bundy of Nevada, who on Jan. 2 moved into the refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and vowed to stay there until the federal government releases the land to local authorities and allows local residents to use it for grazing and lumbering.

However, Bundy and four of his followers were arrested on Jan. 26 at a traffic stop on a highway, and another one was shot and killed during a confrontation with the FBI and Oregon state police. More arrests were made later at other locations.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies then converged and blocked the access to the refuge, and the number of occupiers at the compound was down to four.

On Feb. 3, the four holdouts and 12 suspects already in custody were indicted by a federal grand jury on one felony count of conspiracy to impede federal officials at the refuge from discharging their duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats. None of the 16 people indicted was local resident.

Still, in negotiations with the FBI, the four holdouts said they would not leave unless there was guarantee that they would not be arrested.

On Wednesday afternoon, one of the holdouts rode an all-terrain vehicle outside the barricades established earlier by the militiamen. As agents tried to approach the vehicle, the FBI said, the driver "returned to the encampment at the refuge at a high rate of speed," prompting the law enforcement agency to contain the occupiers by placing agents at barricades both ahead of and behind the area.

While noting that it has never been the FBI's desire to "engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue," Bretzing said in a statement that it "reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge."

The FBI positioned armored vehicles about 45 meters from the holdouts' encampment, and reportedly deployed snipers nearby and flew a drone overhead.

Late Wednesday night, Sean Anderson, one of the remaining occupiers, said they would turn themselves in next morning.

After the standoff ended, Billy Williams, U.S. attorney of the district of Oregon, said, "It is a time for healing, reconciliation amongst neighbors and friends, and allowing for life to get back to normal."

Bretzing promised that the FBI "will do everything we can to return the refuge to its normal operations as soon as possible." Endi