Full Transcript for Ruby Ridge | Remastered

building 73 00:03:38.830 --> 00:03:41.870 the kind of life that would not look unusual anywhere 74 00:03:41.889 --> 00:03:44.849 in Iowa or pretty much all of the United States. 75 00:03:46.009 --> 00:03:48.639 During the late 1970s, the view of the world began 76 00:03:48.659 --> 00:03:52.500 to change. The economy was struggling. Farms all across the 77 00:03:52.539 --> 00:03:53.620 Midwest were under pressure. 78 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:54.460 The 70s were rough. 79 00:03:54.840 --> 00:03:58.280 The Weavers became convinced. that the country was headed somewhere dangerous. 80 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:01.879 Religion always been a big part of their lives, but 81 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:04.199 it became far more intense after Vicki began reading books 82 00:04:04.259 --> 00:04:05.319 about biblical prophecy. 83 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:05.879 Oh no. 84 00:04:06.469 --> 00:04:09.129 And the end of the world. She came to believe 85 00:04:09.169 --> 00:04:12.669 that God, whom the family called Yahweh, was warning her 86 00:04:12.969 --> 00:04:13.789 about what was coming. 87 00:04:15.229 --> 00:04:17.509 I mean, he was, maybe not at that time. 88 00:04:17.670 --> 00:04:17.850 Right. 89 00:04:18.110 --> 00:04:20.339 She had recurring dreams of her family living safely on 90 00:04:20.379 --> 00:04:24.300 a mountaintop while the world below fell apart. Randy took 91 00:04:24.339 --> 00:04:28.529 those warnings seriously. A couple began talking about leaving Iowa altogether, 92 00:04:29.129 --> 00:04:31.670 getting away from all the cities, raising their children somewhere 93 00:04:31.709 --> 00:04:34.870 the government and modern society could never reach them. They 94 00:04:34.889 --> 00:04:37.209 sold many of their belongings, studied how the Amish lived 95 00:04:37.230 --> 00:04:43.439 without modern conveniences, and they searched for land in the West. 1983, 96 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:47.279 found 20 acres, Boundary County, Idaho, a few miles outside 97 00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:50.500 the small community of Naples, about 30 miles from the 98 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:51.170 Canadian border. 99 00:04:52.069 --> 00:04:53.589 That's far, far away now. 100 00:04:53.610 --> 00:04:54.050 They're up there. 101 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:58.959 Just that little sliver between Washington and Montana. 102 00:04:59.060 --> 00:04:59.850 Handle type deal. 103 00:05:00.459 --> 00:05:03.290 They paid $ 5, 000, traded their moving truck as part. 104 00:05:03.129 --> 00:05:03.529 Of the deal. 105 00:05:04.649 --> 00:05:06.949 They're never going to need it again. The land sat 106 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:10.529 high in the mountains, just as Vicki dreamed. High enough 107 00:05:11.069 --> 00:05:13.649 at the end of a rough road, too. Covered in 108 00:05:13.709 --> 00:05:17.810 thick timber, isolated from almost everyone around it. Randy, you 109 00:05:17.829 --> 00:05:22.000 build a simple cabin. No electricity, no running water, no 110 00:05:22.060 --> 00:05:26.120 indoor plumbing. To the weavers, it was not temporary escape 111 00:05:26.350 --> 00:05:28.910 or a hunting camp. It was where they intended to 112 00:05:28.970 --> 00:05:31.410 raise their family for the rest of their lives, live 113 00:05:31.449 --> 00:05:34.730 by their own rules, and wait out whatever they believed 114 00:05:34.769 --> 00:05:37.089 was coming to the world. But the farther they pulled 115 00:05:37.149 --> 00:05:39.540 away from the ordinary society, the more their beliefs hardened, 116 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:42.639 and the mountain that was supposed to protect them slowly 117 00:05:42.860 --> 00:05:44.279 became a world of its own. 118 00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:48.699 Life on that mountain, as you might imagine, was hard 119 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:50.990 for that part. It was what Randy and Vicki wanted. 120 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:54.389 The cabin had no electricity or running water. The road 121 00:05:54.430 --> 00:05:57.490 became difficult in bad weather. Nearly everything the family needed 122 00:05:57.730 --> 00:06:01.230 had to be built, grown, hunted, or carried up from town. Vicki, 123 00:06:01.329 --> 00:06:04.060 she homeschooled Sarah, Sammy, and Rachel, while Randy, he took 124 00:06:04.069 --> 00:06:07.180 whatever work he could find, including cutting firewood and doing 125 00:06:07.259 --> 00:06:07.759 odd jobs. 126 00:06:07.939 --> 00:06:10.100 But still relied on society. 127 00:06:11.139 --> 00:06:12.920 Money was often tight, but the children later, why do 128 00:06:12.939 --> 00:06:15.850 you need money? The children, they later remembered plenty of 129 00:06:15.870 --> 00:06:18.839 good days there. They explored the woods, helped with chores, 130 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:20.759 cared for animals, grew up with the kind of freedom 131 00:06:20.819 --> 00:06:24.560 they couldn't have had in town. Family, they also kept 132 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:27.259 guns close by. And that part of Idaho, owning rifles 133 00:06:27.300 --> 00:06:28.879 and hunting for food was hardly unusual. 134 00:06:28.899 --> 00:06:30.120 Of course. They were weavers. 135 00:06:30.170 --> 00:06:32.449 They saw their weapons as protection from more than animals. 136 00:06:33.170 --> 00:06:35.550 They believed the government might eventually come for people like them. 137 00:06:35.610 --> 00:06:37.230 And Randy, he taught the children how to shoot and 138 00:06:37.250 --> 00:06:38.490 carry guns from an early age. 139 00:06:38.529 --> 00:06:38.970 Damn right. 140 00:06:39.550 --> 00:06:41.629 Vicki, she was the strongest religious influence in the home. 141 00:06:42.209 --> 00:06:44.870 She studied the Old Testament, kept journals addressed to Yahweh. 142 00:06:45.610 --> 00:06:47.350 She came to believe that her family had been chosen 143 00:06:47.370 --> 00:06:50.209 to survive the destruction ahead. Over time, those beliefs had 144 00:06:50.250 --> 00:06:52.930 moved into Christian identity, a loose collection of teachings built 145 00:06:52.970

--> 00:06:55.230 around the false idea that white Europeans were the true 146 00:06:55.269 --> 00:06:56.680 descendants of biblical Israel. 147 00:06:56.689 --> 00:06:57.120 Oh, jeez. 148 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:00.300 Many followers, they also taught that Jewish people were enemies 149 00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:02.439 of God and that the races were meant to remain separate. 150 00:07:03.480 --> 00:07:06.560 Randy and Vicki, they accepted racist and anti-Semitic ideas tied 151 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:09.699 to that movement. Randy, he later described himself as a 152 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:12.699 racial separatist and said he believed the races should live apart. 153 00:07:12.930 --> 00:07:13.430 Oh, well. 154 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:15.560 The Weavers, though, they were not accused of carrying out 155 00:07:15.579 --> 00:07:17.600 racial attacks, and Randy was never proven to be a 156 00:07:17.620 --> 00:07:19.800 formal member of Aryan nations, as people claimed. 157 00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:20.199 Right. 158 00:07:20.579 --> 00:07:23.310 He did, however, visit its compound near Hayden Lake and 159 00:07:23.350 --> 00:07:25.410 attend its annual World Aryan Congress, though. 160 00:07:25.470 --> 00:07:28.069 Hmm. Right. 161 00:07:29.290 --> 00:07:34.089 The gathering that drew white supremacists, neo-Nazi survivalists, and hand-in-hand, right? 162 00:07:34.189 --> 00:07:34.529 Right. 163 00:07:34.689 --> 00:07:38.310 Anti-government figures from across the country, along with federal agents 164 00:07:38.350 --> 00:07:40.009 and informants trying to learn what they were planning. 165 00:07:40.149 --> 00:07:41.509 I mean, I guess it's kind of like Burning Man. 166 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:44.029 for the liberals because there's all kinds of different shit 167 00:07:44.050 --> 00:07:50.449 there yeah but i guess there's some that you want 168 00:07:50.870 --> 00:07:53.389 that list you just did there is basically the same 169 00:07:53.490 --> 00:07:54.949 on the burning. 170 00:07:54.750 --> 00:07:57.889 Man but on the other side right it's crazy randy 171 00:07:57.949 --> 00:08:00.439 he met people there listen to speakers sometimes discuss his 172 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.399 hatred of federal government he also argued that white people 173 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:05.939 needed a separate homeland although he did not always agree 174 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.240 with the organizations around him or submit to the leaders 175 00:08:09.209 --> 00:08:11.189 That made him difficult to place. He was close enough 176 00:08:11.230 --> 00:08:13.810 to the movement to attract attention, but independent enough that 177 00:08:13.870 --> 00:08:15.910 even people inside it didn't even consider him one of 178 00:08:15.949 --> 00:08:20.490 their own. His growing reputation also reached his neighbors. Some 179 00:08:20.509 --> 00:08:23.470 saw the Weavers as strange, but mostly harmless. Others, they 180 00:08:23.490 --> 00:08:27.180 described Randy as angry, armed, and

capable of violence. A 181 00:08:27.209 --> 00:08:30.040 better land dispute produced reports that he had threatened public officials, 182 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:34.789 claims Randy denied and investigators couldn't support. By the middle 183 00:08:34.809 --> 00:08:37.129 of the 80s, his name had begun appearing in federal files, 184 00:08:37.250 --> 00:08:39.210 even though there was not enough evidence to charge him 185 00:08:39.230 --> 00:08:43.309 with anything. Then, at an Aryan gathering in 1986, Randy 186 00:08:43.330 --> 00:08:47.820 was introduced to a man calling himself Gus Magasano. Randy, 187 00:08:47.889 --> 00:08:49.779 he believed he met another gun dealer who shared some 188 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:52.419 of his views. But in reality, that man's name was 189 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:53.620 actually Kenneth Fadley. 190 00:08:54.379 --> 00:08:54.759 Fadley? 191 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:59.159 Fadley. He was working as a paid informant for the ATF. Bullshit. 192 00:08:59.200 --> 00:08:59.720 That's borderline. 193 00:08:59.860 --> 00:09:02.019 They're just entrapping this dude, man. 194 00:09:02.039 --> 00:09:03.899 That's borderline entrapment, but whatever. 195 00:09:05.250 --> 00:09:09.039 Just making people do things they wouldn't have ordinarily thought 196 00:09:09.059 --> 00:09:09.600 of doing. 197 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:10.799 Insane. 198 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:13.960 Fadely, he had been sent into the Aryan Nation Circle 199 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:17.879 to gather information about illegal gun sales. Not specifically build 200 00:09:17.899 --> 00:09:22.039 a case against Randy Weaver. He used the name Gus Magasano. 201 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:25.759 He presented himself as a gun dealer with connections to 202 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:28.259 motorcycle gangs, which gave him a reason to ask questions 203 00:09:28.299 --> 00:09:32.620 about weapons without immediately raising suspicion. He and Randy remained 204 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:35.990 in contact after the first meeting. seeing each other at 205 00:09:36.049 --> 00:09:39.990 later gatherings and occasionally talking about guns, politics, and their 206 00:09:40.029 --> 00:09:44.409 shared hatred of what Randy called the Zionist group government. Oh, 207 00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:46.000 the Zionist occupied government. 208 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:47.299 Oh, oh. 209 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:51.070 By July of 1989, Randy trusted him enough to invite 210 00:09:51.070 --> 00:09:53.309 him to the cabin for a discussion about forming a 211 00:09:53.309 --> 00:09:56.279 group that could fight the government if the country collapsed. 212 00:09:56.279 --> 00:09:57.960 There's your problem right there, bud. 213 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:00.340 If that conversation would never happen, I don't think those 214 00:10:00.379 --> 00:10:01.980 two sawed-offs would have been such a big deal. 215 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:02.620 Right. 216 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:06.120 The conversation that eventually caused Randy trouble came a few 217 00:10:06.139 --> 00:10:09.720 months later. Fadley said he needed shotguns that could be 218 00:10:09.779 --> 00:10:13.879 easily concealed and resold. According to the ATF's version, Randy 219 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:17.059 offered to supply sawed-off shotguns and claimed he could get 220 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:18.210 four or five of them a week. 221 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:18.799 Whoa. 222 00:10:19.860 --> 00:10:22.620 Randy later told a different story. 223 00:10:22.860 --> 00:10:25.799 He said Fadley had spent years working on him, repeatedly 224 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:27.620 asking for guns and pretending to be desperate for money. 225 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:30.779 Randy also claimed that he finally agreed because his own 226 00:10:30.820 --> 00:10:33.340 family needed cash and because he believed he was helping 227 00:10:33.379 --> 00:10:36.960 someone he considered a friend. The most important early conversation 228 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:40.899 was not even recorded. Fadley later said he had sometimes 229 00:10:40.940 --> 00:10:43.059 avoided wearing a wire because he was afraid the men 230 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:46.659 around him would discover it. That left no recording capable 231 00:10:46.679 --> 00:10:49.629 of setting up of settling who first suggested cutting the. 232 00:10:49.570 --> 00:10:50.850 Barrels below the legal limit. 233 00:10:50.870 --> 00:10:53.090 It doesn't matter, because they're going to take the informant's 234 00:10:53.110 --> 00:10:57.149 word over the other guy. 24th of October, 1989. 235 00:10:57.149 --> 00:10:57.549 Two men. 236 00:10:58.029 --> 00:11:01.129 They met in a park in Sandpoint. But this time, 237 00:11:01.210 --> 00:11:04.519 Faisley was carrying a small tape recorder and electronic transmitter. 238 00:11:05.539 --> 00:11:10.059 Randy handed him two sawed-off shotguns. One barrel measured about 239 00:11:10.059 --> 00:11:12.559 13 inches and the other 12. This is well below 240 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:15.440 the federal minimum of 18 inches. Under federal law, a 241 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:17.659 shotgun with a barrel that short had to be registered. 242 00:11:18.129 --> 00:11:18.889 Neither gun was. 243 00:11:20.049 --> 00:11:21.720 On the recording, Randy said that he cut him off 244 00:11:21.750 --> 00:11:25.399 himself with a vice and a hacksaw. He could do 245 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.299 a better job once he had his workshop set up. 246 00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:29.759 So this is saying that he ain't even doing this shit. 247 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:30.919 He just did it. 248 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:32.899 On a whim to get this guy to get some 249 00:11:32.919 --> 00:11:33.940 money real quick. Wow. 250 00:11:34.299 --> 00:11:38.620 Fadely paid him $ 300 with more money still owed. That 251 00:11:38.659 --> 00:11:41.379 recording gave the ATF evidence that Randy had knowingly made 252 00:11:41.700 --> 00:11:42.639 and possessed. 253 00:11:42.539 --> 00:11:45.960 Two

illegal guns. Oh, jeez. But the tape also left 254 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.330 room for an argument. That would follow the case for years. 255 00:11:49.190 --> 00:11:51.929 It did prove Randy delivered the weapons, but it did 256 00:11:51.990 --> 00:11:55.269 not prove whose idea the illegal alterations had been or 257 00:11:55.330 --> 00:11:57.789 how much pressure Fadley had used to get him there. 258 00:11:57.970 --> 00:12:00.409 So, right. We don't know what's that. It could be blackmail. 259 00:12:00.870 --> 00:12:03.070 He said he'd been begging me for fucking six months. 260 00:12:03.110 --> 00:12:03.370 Right. 261 00:12:04.149 --> 00:12:06.870 Fadley, of course, he insisted there was no pressure and 262 00:12:06.889 --> 00:12:09.649 said that Randy volunteered at all. And he said he 263 00:12:09.669 --> 00:12:13.090 can supply even more guns on a regular basis. Whenever 264 00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:17.159 you need, just ask. Randy, of course, he was like, no, 265 00:12:17.210 --> 00:12:19.789 I was pushed into committing a crime that I otherwise 266 00:12:19.809 --> 00:12:20.470 would never commit. 267 00:12:20.529 --> 00:12:20.909 Trust me. 268 00:12:21.889 --> 00:12:24.149 When the Justice Department examined the case years later, his 269 00:12:24.169 --> 00:12:27.669 investigators said the events leading to the sale troubled them. 270 00:12:29.210 --> 00:12:31.480 But they could not conclude that the ATF had coerced 271 00:12:31.500 --> 00:12:32.620 or illegally enticed him. 272 00:12:32.789 --> 00:12:33.500 Of course, they can't. 273 00:12:34.259 --> 00:12:36.799 Randy still agreed to make the guns. He still agreed 274 00:12:36.820 --> 00:12:38.940 to cut them himself. And he still agreed to accept 275 00:12:38.980 --> 00:12:42.200 the money. A month after the sale, Randy confronted Fatally 276 00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:44.220 with a warning that he received that Gus. 277 00:12:45.070 --> 00:12:47.789 Might be a cop. Oh, Fadely, he denied it. He said, 278 00:12:47.809 --> 00:12:48.409 I ain't no cop. 279 00:12:48.830 --> 00:12:51.409 He tried to maintain his cover, but his handler decided 280 00:12:51.429 --> 00:12:53.610 the relationship had become too dangerous and ordered him to 281 00:12:53.629 --> 00:12:54.090 stay away. 282 00:12:54.110 --> 00:12:56.360 And that further proves Randy. Right. 283 00:12:56.620 --> 00:12:58.120 Now I ain't seen him. Yeah. 284 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:01.820 The ATF now had a recording with him giving them 285 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:04.820 the guns that were illegal. So they had a solid 286 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:08.179 case against Randy, but arresting him immediately could expose an 287 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:11.220 informant who was still useful in a much larger investigation 288 00:13:11.240 --> 00:13:12.769 because it really actually. 289 00:13:13.429 --> 00:13:14.620 They thought this was going to be something big. 290 00:13:14.629 --> 00:13:18.190 They're trying to get the Aryan movement or whatever, all 291 00:13:18.210 --> 00:13:19.299 those fucking people inside of it. 292 00:13:19.570 --> 00:13:23.559 And for this very moment, the evidence went into a file. Randy, 293 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:25.860 he returned to everyday living on Mountain Life, believing that 294 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:27.679 he had caught the man before the man caught him. 295 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:29.759 Little did he know. 296 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:32.580 That case sat for several months while the old ATF 297 00:13:32.620 --> 00:13:35.090 tried to protect Fadley's identity and finish its work around 298 00:13:35.139 --> 00:13:38.309 Aryan nations. By the spring of 1990, his cover had 299 00:13:38.330 --> 00:13:40.809 already begun to break down, keeping the shotgun sale quiet 300 00:13:40.830 --> 00:13:44.470 and no longer served much purpose. ATF agent Herb Byerly, 301 00:13:44.629 --> 00:13:46.950 he submitted the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boise, 302 00:13:47.350 --> 00:13:48.860 recommended that Randy be prosecuted. 303 00:13:49.860 --> 00:13:50.250 Why? 304 00:13:51.179 --> 00:13:53.279 Before that happened, the agents decided to see whether the 305 00:13:53.320 --> 00:13:55.759 evidence could buy them something more valuable than a gun conviction. 306 00:13:56.679 --> 00:13:58.740 In June, Byerly and another agent, they drove to the 307 00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:01.799 Weaver property looking for Randy. They found old little Sarah 308 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:03.620 wearing a pistol on her hip and Sammy carrying a 309 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:07.399 large hunting knife. Randy, he wasn't there. The agents, they 310 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:10.080 left without identifying themselves, then spotted his truck outside a 311 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:13.159 motel in Sandpoint. They approached him there, showed him a 312 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:15.299 photograph of the two shotguns, and said they had recorded 313 00:14:15.340 --> 00:14:18.100 the sale. Randy, he refused to listen to the tape. 314 00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:21.000 Byerly told him that U.S. Attorney's Office knew about the guns, 315 00:14:21.100 --> 00:14:24.460 but that cooperating with the ATF could help him. The agents, 316 00:14:24.500 --> 00:14:26.919 they wanted info about crimes involving people connected to the 317 00:14:26.980 --> 00:14:29.820 Aryan Nations. They said if old Randy helped them, they 318 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:32.159 would make sure the prosecutor knew about it. Randy, he 319 00:14:32.200 --> 00:14:34.080 understood that they were asking what they were asking and 320 00:14:34.120 --> 00:14:36.570 rejected it. He told him he would not become a snitch. 321 00:14:37.259 --> 00:14:39.269 The agents gave him a telephone number just in case 322 00:14:39.309 --> 00:14:42.039 he changed his mind, but he never called. Randy, he 323 00:14:42.059 --> 00:14:44.840 later saw what happened next as punishment for refusing to cooperate. 324 00:14:44.860 --> 00:14:45.720 Most likely the case.

325 00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:48.679 The Justice Department investigation found no proof that the gun 326 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:50.659 case had been delayed to pressure him or that the 327 00:14:50.700 --> 00:14:51.720 indictment was retaliation. 328 00:14:51.740 --> 00:14:52.720 Of course, they didn't. 329 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:56.259 The ATF had already recommended prosecution before asking for his help, 330 00:14:56.759 --> 00:14:58.720 and the U.S. Attorney's Office simply treated the case as 331 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:02.399 low priority. Still, from Randy's point of view, the sequence 332 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:05.279 was pretty obvious. The ATF threatened him with charges, asked 333 00:15:05.299 --> 00:15:07.519 him to inform, and prosecuted him when he refused. 334 00:15:07.590 --> 00:15:07.750 Hmm. 335 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:11.659 December 13, 1990, a federal grand jury indicted him for 336 00:15:11.700 --> 00:15:13.639 making and possessing unregistered firearms. 337 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:14.679 Son of a bitch. 338 00:15:14.820 --> 00:15:16.899 He wasn't charged with running a gun business or supplying 339 00:15:16.940 --> 00:15:19.720 piles of illegal weapons. That case rested on those measly 340 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:21.779 two little shotguns sold to Fadley more than a year 341 00:15:21.820 --> 00:15:22.519 and a half earlier. 342 00:15:22.539 --> 00:15:23.899 All right. 343 00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:27.149 Arresting him presented a different problem, though. The ATF believed 344 00:15:27.169 --> 00:15:29.370 that approaching the cabin could lead to a gunfight involving 345 00:15:29.389 --> 00:15:31.870 Vicki and the kids. So agents, they created a way 346 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:35.799 to catch Randy away from home. January 17, 1991, two 347 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:38.019 agents parked near the property, raised the hood of their vehicle, 348 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:39.179 and pretended they had broken down. 349 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:40.009 The old trick, huh? 350 00:15:40.980 --> 00:15:42.779 When Randy and Vicki came along, they stopped to help. 351 00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:45.730 Sheriff Bruce Whitaker and the Whedon agents moved in and 352 00:15:45.750 --> 00:15:47.889 arrested Randy without anyone firing a single shot. 353 00:15:47.909 --> 00:15:49.389 There you go. Smart move, guys. 354 00:15:49.750 --> 00:15:52.730 He was taken to Coeur d'Alene and brought before a 355 00:15:52.750 --> 00:15:55.549 federal judge the next day because he had no criminal record. 356 00:15:55.730 --> 00:15:58.750 And why are they pursuing this type of case against him? 357 00:15:58.769 --> 00:15:59.690 It doesn't make any sense. 358 00:15:59.710 --> 00:16:00.389 It's just retarded. 359 00:16:01.539 --> 00:16:05.919 He was released on a $ 10, 000 personal reconnaissance bond, meaning 360 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:07.299 he didn't have to pay up the money unless he 361 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:11.440 broke the conditions of his release. Even that was explained badly. Randy, 362 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:13.100 he came away believing that if he lost the case, 363 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:16.080 the government might take his land. One thing he and 364 00:16:16.100 --> 00:16:19.500 Vicki had built their entire lives around. And what they've 365 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:27.159 been mourning against. The court appointed Everett Hoffmeister to represent 366 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:29.039 him and set the trial for February 19th, less than 367 00:16:29.080 --> 00:16:32.059 five weeks away. Randy, he's now back on the mountain, 368 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:34.490 convinced the ATF had tried to blackmail him into becoming 369 00:16:34.509 --> 00:16:37.509 an informant, while the government expected him to return quietly 370 00:16:37.549 --> 00:16:39.950 and face what still looked like a routine federal gun case. 371 00:16:40.750 --> 00:16:42.909 Then a single wrong date helped turn that case into 372 00:16:42.950 --> 00:16:43.500 something else. 373 00:16:43.669 --> 00:16:44.409 Oh, shit. 374 00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:50.860 The first change, it was small. February 18th, it was 375 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:54.710 a federal holiday. The court moved Randy's trial from February 376 00:16:54.899 --> 00:16:57.309 19th to February 20th to give everyone more time to travel. 377 00:16:58.299 --> 00:16:59.799 There was a notice that went to the lawyers in 378 00:16:59.820 --> 00:17:04.190 the case, including Everett Hoffmeister, which was Randy's lawyer. But 379 00:17:04.329 --> 00:17:06.829 it was not sent directly to Randy, which doesn't matter. 380 00:17:07.309 --> 00:17:08.190 They can get away with that. 381 00:17:08.690 --> 00:17:10.890 Here is already the first case of incompetence. You guys 382 00:17:10.910 --> 00:17:13.490 don't know when your federal holidays are, buds? 383 00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:13.799 Right. 384 00:17:14.450 --> 00:17:18.339 Hoffmeister had already mailed letters to the Weaver post office 385 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:20.880 box telling Randy when to appear and asked him to 386 00:17:20.920 --> 00:17:22.619 meet so they could prepare a defense. 387 00:17:23.420 --> 00:17:24.779 Randy wanted nothing to do with him. 388 00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:28.029 He had not chosen Hoffmeister as his attorney. He did 389 00:17:28.049 --> 00:17:30.930 not trust the federal court that appointed him and he 390 00:17:31.170 --> 00:17:34.829 never answered the letters. But at the same time, Randy 391 00:17:34.869 --> 00:17:37.930 was required to contact a probation officer, Carl Richens, as 392 00:17:37.970 --> 00:17:41.250 part of his release. Randy called, but Richens did not 393 00:17:41.309 --> 00:17:43.750 have the case file yet and asked him to leave 394 00:17:43.789 --> 00:17:47.730 contact information. Richens later said that Randy gave him a 395 00:17:47.769 --> 00:17:50.119 mailing address, but no telephone number. Well, you don't have 396 00:17:50.130 --> 00:17:53.779 a telephone number. 7th February, Richens

sent Randy a letter 397 00:17:54.019 --> 00:17:56.450 asking him to get in touch. In that letter, he 398 00:17:56.490 --> 00:17:59.759 gave the trial date as March 20th, exactly one month 399 00:17:59.819 --> 00:18:00.900 later than the real date. 400 00:18:01.980 --> 00:18:02.299 Wow. 401 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:05.500 That was notice, and that's the probation officer. 402 00:18:05.819 --> 00:18:06.039 Right. 403 00:18:06.660 --> 00:18:09.099 And that was the notice that Randy and Vicki accepted 404 00:18:09.319 --> 00:18:13.119 as genuine. Meanwhile, Vicki was sending letters of her own. 405 00:18:13.799 --> 00:18:17.680 She addressed federal officials with names like the Queen of Babylon, 406 00:18:18.140 --> 00:18:20.700 accused the government of serving evil, and warned that the 407 00:18:20.740 --> 00:18:24.630 family would obey Yahweh rather than federal orders. The letters 408 00:18:24.650 --> 00:18:28.190 were loaded with biblical language about judgment, death, and destruction. 409 00:18:28.269 --> 00:18:31.309 Yeah, lady, that's a little cookie. 410 00:18:31.470 --> 00:18:35.349 Yeah, Vicki saw them as religious warnings. The people receiving 411 00:18:35.390 --> 00:18:38.180 them saw possible threats from an armed family already talking 412 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:39.259 about resisting the government. 413 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:40.259 I mean, I get it. 414 00:18:41.019 --> 00:18:44.000 Randy, he didn't appear on the February 20th date. Chief 415 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:47.039 District Judge Harold Ryan issued a bench warrant that same day. 416 00:18:47.609 --> 00:18:50.450 The case went to the U.S. Marshal Service. Within days, 417 00:18:50.529 --> 00:18:53.130 the court learned that Richens had given Randy the wrong date. 418 00:18:53.150 --> 00:18:54.029 So the court learned this. 419 00:18:54.089 --> 00:18:56.869 Okay, my bad, guys. Here's your right date. Let's schedule 420 00:18:56.930 --> 00:18:58.150 it to March 20th. 421 00:18:58.450 --> 00:19:01.990 But guess what? That court date mistake did not erase 422 00:19:02.029 --> 00:19:02.470 the warrant. 423 00:19:02.490 --> 00:19:03.430 That's so stupid. 424 00:19:03.609 --> 00:19:07.269 Hoffmeister's letters had carried the correct information. And the judge 425 00:19:07.309 --> 00:19:07.769 believed that, Randy. 426 00:19:07.789 --> 00:19:10.099 No, it didn't, because they already just stated that. 427 00:19:10.819 --> 00:19:12.039 It changed. Right. 428 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:15.019 But the Hoffmeister's letters were still saying the old date. 429 00:19:15.549 --> 00:19:17.210 Which was only a day before, but still. But still. 430 00:19:17.349 --> 00:19:19.390 Not a month. But still. Right. 431 00:19:19.450 --> 00:19:21.990 They didn't even have the right information from his lawyer. 432 00:19:22.069 --> 00:19:22.309 Right. 433 00:19:22.690 --> 00:19:24.849 So they said that the lawyer sent letters that carried 434 00:19:24.869 --> 00:19:28.029 the correct information, so regardless. But if you're going to 435 00:19:28.049 --> 00:19:30.230 get a letter from a lawyer or the probation officer, 436 00:19:30.250 --> 00:19:31.890 I think I'm going to listen to the probation officer 437 00:19:31.930 --> 00:19:32.710 letter than the lawyer. 438 00:19:33.210 --> 00:19:35.690 You would think, because the probation officer should have the 439 00:19:35.779 --> 00:19:36.319 actual case. 440 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:37.150 He can arrest you. 441 00:19:38.380 --> 00:19:40.539 So the judge believed that Randy had already decided not 442 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:43.990 to cooperate with either his lawyer or the court. The 443 00:19:44.009 --> 00:19:46.160 government also knew that Randy was still on the mountain, 444 00:19:46.619 --> 00:19:48.480 so there was no mystery about where to find him. 445 00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:49.970 So he wasn't right. 446 00:19:51.319 --> 00:19:53.660 14th of March, the grand jury added a new charge 447 00:19:53.700 --> 00:19:56.440 for failing to appear. By then, Randy had learned that 448 00:19:56.460 --> 00:19:58.880 the government wanted him again, but he did not come 449 00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:00.099 down to clear up the confusion. 450 00:20:00.900 --> 00:20:03.140 This is kind of his own fault, too. He could have. 451 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:04.859 Easily just walked in and been like, guys, it was 452 00:20:04.900 --> 00:20:07.400 all a fucking mistake. He would have got probation. 453 00:20:07.779 --> 00:20:10.250 He believed the warrant proved that the court had never 454 00:20:10.289 --> 00:20:13.470 intended to treat him fairly. The federal side saw the 455 00:20:13.509 --> 00:20:17.589 situation differently, though. Whatever Richens had wrote, Randy had ignored 456 00:20:17.630 --> 00:20:20.359 his lawyer anyway. He stopped cooperating with the conditions of 457 00:20:20.400 --> 00:20:23.079 his release and refused to submit to the court once 458 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:26.119 he knew there was a warrant. Neither side trusted the other, 459 00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:28.880 enough to even correct a mistake that should have never 460 00:20:28.940 --> 00:20:33.200 become this serious. That's the shitty part. The difference was 461 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:35.700 that the government had the legal authority to arrest him, 462 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:38.569 while Randy was just a lonely little boy living in 463 00:20:38.589 --> 00:20:42.089 the woods. He told people he would not be taken 464 00:20:42.109 --> 00:20:45.390 by force. Vicki believed the family might die on that mountain, 465 00:20:46.049 --> 00:20:49.970 and she wrote as though that possibility had already been accepted. 466 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:53.460 Their children heard the same warnings and began preparing for 467 00:20:53.539 --> 00:20:56.359 agents to appear in the trees. What had started as 468 00:20:56.380 --> 00:21:00.299 confusion over two dates were hardening into a test of wills. 469 00:21:01.140 --> 00:21:04.019 United States

Marshals had an order from a judge, and 470 00:21:04.039 --> 00:21:06.130 they could not simply forget about Randy Weaver. 471 00:21:06.210 --> 00:21:07.390 Yeah, they got their orders. 472 00:21:07.930 --> 00:21:10.970 Randy believed following that order would place his freedom, his land, 473 00:21:11.009 --> 00:21:12.910 and his family in the hands of the same government 474 00:21:12.950 --> 00:21:17.259 he was trying to hide from. Bringing him in would 475 00:21:17.299 --> 00:21:21.720 now require finding a way past Vicky, the children, the weapons, 476 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:24.200 and the certainty inside that cabin. 477 00:21:24.460 --> 00:21:27.779 Then an arrest was only the beginning of something worse. Oh, 478 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:28.190 my God. 479 00:21:30.009 --> 00:21:32.809 The marshals responsible for the warrant understood almost immediately that 480 00:21:32.849 --> 00:21:34.470 walking up to the cabin and knocking on the door 481 00:21:34.519 --> 00:21:38.319 could get him killed. Randy told his friends that he 482 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:40.440 would resist anyone who came onto his land to arrest him. 483 00:21:41.140 --> 00:21:43.480 Reports reaching the marshals for service, they said Vicki and 484 00:21:43.500 --> 00:21:46.779 the children might fight alongside him. Some of those warnings 485 00:21:46.819 --> 00:21:49.329 were exaggerated, but enough were credible that nobody wanted to 486 00:21:49.369 --> 00:21:52.410 test him. March of 91, the marshals brought in their 487 00:21:52.430 --> 00:21:53.529 special operations group to. 488 00:21:53.490 --> 00:21:54.130 Study the problem. 489 00:21:55.049 --> 00:21:57.710 A psychologist who reviewed the available information predicted that the 490 00:21:57.750 --> 00:22:00.210 family might fight to the death and recommended waiting until 491 00:22:00.250 --> 00:22:01.410 Randy left the property alone. 492 00:22:01.430 --> 00:22:02.630 Like they did before. 493 00:22:03.130 --> 00:22:04.880 The team, well, he's not probably going to now. 494 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:05.299 Right. 495 00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:08.859 The team reached the same conclusion after visiting Northern Idaho 496 00:22:08.900 --> 00:22:11.799 that June. The cabin sat on high ground. The family 497 00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:14.700 had dogs that warned them whenever someone approached. And Randy, 498 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:16.759 he rarely went anywhere without Vicki or one of the 499 00:22:16.779 --> 00:22:17.380 children nearby. 500 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:20.859 Oh, I bet you they had at least six dogs, dude. Oh, 501 00:22:21.099 --> 00:22:21.480 I bet. 502 00:22:21.779 --> 00:22:25.769 And every time they left, they had four guns. A 503 00:22:25.789 --> 00:22:28.109 surprise attack offered no clean way to separate him from them. 504 00:22:28.670 --> 00:22:31.150 The marshals watched places he might visit, including a church 505 00:22:31.190 --> 00:22:33.710 connected to the Christian identity movement, but he didn't appear. 506 00:22:34.750 --> 00:22:37.190 They considered sending someone up under a white flag, then 507 00:22:37.230 --> 00:22:39.390 abandoned the idea because they feared he might fire before 508 00:22:39.410 --> 00:22:46.079 learning who it was. Friends, neighbors, Vicki's parents, and people 509 00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:49.440 connected to Aryan nations were asked to carry messages. Even 510 00:22:49.480 --> 00:22:51.599 Richard Butler, the head of the Aryan Nations, he was 511 00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:53.380 encouraged to tell Randy that he should come down and 512 00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:57.299 face the charges. Hoffmeister, he wrote that the gun case 513 00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:59.460 is relatively minor and that Randy might even have a 514 00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:00.109 strong defense. 515 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:01.829 Right. I think it would have been, like you said, 516 00:23:01.869 --> 00:23:03.109 maybe probation. It would have been probation. 517 00:23:03.130 --> 00:23:03.869 He had no priors. 518 00:23:03.910 --> 00:23:04.109 Right. 519 00:23:04.690 --> 00:23:06.930 Vicki, she answered that living or dying on the mountain 520 00:23:06.950 --> 00:23:10.509 was part of Yahweh's plan. Randy refused to accept Hoffmeister 521 00:23:10.609 --> 00:23:12.390 as his lawyer and said surrendering through him would only 522 00:23:12.430 --> 00:23:15.809 guarantee that his rights were violated. By October of 91, 523 00:23:15.809 --> 00:23:18.700 the messages passed to a friend named Alan Jepson. It 524 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:21.900 finally produced the beginning of a real negotiation. Randy said 525 00:23:21.940 --> 00:23:23.660 he did not trust the government because they had lied 526 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:25.299 to him and used an informant to set him up 527 00:23:25.339 --> 00:23:27.690 in the first place. He also believed he could not 528 00:23:27.730 --> 00:23:30.009 receive a fair trial in Idaho because of prejudice against 529 00:23:30.049 --> 00:23:32.390 his racial beliefs. I think there's many more people like 530 00:23:32.430 --> 00:23:36.349 you than there are not in Idaho, buddy. According to Jepson, 531 00:23:36.809 --> 00:23:38.630 Randy might come down if the trial were moved and 532 00:23:38.670 --> 00:23:40.559 if Jepson could remain with him until he was released 533 00:23:40.619 --> 00:23:43.839 or sentenced. The marshals prepared a response and began working 534 00:23:43.859 --> 00:23:47.859 through the possible surrender terms. Then Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Howen, 535 00:23:47.900 --> 00:23:51.049 he ordered them to stop. Howen said Randy was already 536 00:23:51.089 --> 00:23:54.049 represented by Hoffmeister, which meant the government couldn't negotiate with 537 00:23:54.069 --> 00:23:57.230 him directly or through someone else. That might have sounded 538 00:23:57.269 --> 00:23:59.769 proper on paper, but everyone involved knew Randy had rejected 539 00:23:59.809 --> 00:24:01.769 Hoffmeister and would not speak to

him. 540 00:24:01.990 --> 00:24:02.670 These guys are just. 541 00:24:04.019 --> 00:24:06.819 Howen, he never asked whether Hoffmeister would consent to the talks, 542 00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:08.720 and he treated the rule as absolute, even though there 543 00:24:08.740 --> 00:24:11.859 were no exceptions, even though there were exceptions that could 544 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:16.170 have allowed communication. The Justice Department. They later concluded that 545 00:24:16.210 --> 00:24:19.549 shutting down the negotiations was a mistake that made the 546 00:24:19.569 --> 00:24:23.069 marshals' job harder. Nobody could say the talks would have succeeded, 547 00:24:23.150 --> 00:24:24.730 but they were one of the few options that did 548 00:24:24.750 --> 00:24:26.150 not place armed men near the children. 549 00:24:27.190 --> 00:24:30.269 Well, if they could have explained in clarity exactly what 550 00:24:30.289 --> 00:24:32.230 was going to happen, they would have laid out exactly 551 00:24:32.269 --> 00:24:33.049 what was going to happen. 552 00:24:33.130 --> 00:24:34.869 I think maybe. 553 00:24:36.450 --> 00:24:38.930 But look, dude, we're not taking your land. We're not 554 00:24:38.950 --> 00:24:41.069 going to infringe on the way you're living. You just 555 00:24:41.109 --> 00:24:42.859 fucked up and sold two illegal guns, bud. 556 00:24:44.170 --> 00:24:48.069 That's literally it. Don't do it again. Geez. 557 00:24:48.089 --> 00:24:50.910 Through the winter, snow had made regular surveillance nearly impossible. 558 00:24:51.569 --> 00:24:54.390 When activity resumed in 1992, the marshals still rejected a 559 00:24:54.430 --> 00:24:58.890 direct assault. Plans involving armed teams surrounding the cabin were 560 00:24:58.910 --> 00:25:03.460 considered and thrown out. So was a supposedly non-lethal version 561 00:25:03.539 --> 00:25:05.299 using rubber bullets in an attempt to cut off the 562 00:25:05.339 --> 00:25:11.299 family's water. The acting director of the marshal service asked 563 00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:13.099 what would happen if one of the children fired during 564 00:25:13.140 --> 00:25:16.200 either operation. The answer was that the marshals would have 565 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:18.579 to defend themselves, and that was enough to kill both plans. 566 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:21.759 They were like, we're not going to kill kids. Senior 567 00:25:21.779 --> 00:25:24.400 officials even asked prosecutors to dismiss the indictment and file 568 00:25:24.460 --> 00:25:26.579 it again under seal. Yeah, just fucking, why are we 569 00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:27.779 doing this over two shotguns? 570 00:25:27.819 --> 00:25:28.140 Right. 571 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:30.880 That would take away the immediate pressure to execute the 572 00:25:30.900 --> 00:25:33.109 warrant and allow agents to wait until Randy left the mountain, 573 00:25:33.309 --> 00:25:36.970 but the U.S. Attorney's Office refused. The warrant remained active 574 00:25:37.289 -->

00:25:39.529 while the prosecutors in court offered little practical help in 575 00:25:39.569 --> 00:25:40.710 finding a peaceful way to serve it. 576 00:25:40.730 --> 00:25:40.829 Mm-mm. 577 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:43.650 By the spring of 92, the marshals settled on an 578 00:25:43.710 --> 00:25:46.390 operation that could take as long as a year. Say 579 00:25:46.430 --> 00:25:48.470 two deputies, they would pose as a married couple buying 580 00:25:48.509 --> 00:25:49.569 land near the Weaver property. 581 00:25:49.630 --> 00:25:50.230 Oh, geez. 582 00:25:50.309 --> 00:25:53.250 Why are they going? They're going through lengths like this. 583 00:25:53.150 --> 00:25:55.660 Dude's a mob boss or something. It's fucking insane. 584 00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:59.039 Geez. They would clear part of it, establish themselves as 585 00:25:59.140 --> 00:26:01.779 real neighbors, and slowly earn Randy's trust. 586 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:05.970 Oh, my. This is insane. All for two sawed-off shotguns. Seriously. 587 00:26:06.369 --> 00:26:08.569 Hidden teams, they would protect them during each visit, but 588 00:26:08.670 --> 00:26:10.750 nobody would attempt an arrest unless Randy could be taken 589 00:26:10.769 --> 00:26:13.210 away from his family without a fight. It was an 590 00:26:13.329 --> 00:26:15.390 unusually slow plan for a man who had just been 591 00:26:15.430 --> 00:26:17.109 sitting openly at home for more than a year, but 592 00:26:17.309 --> 00:26:20.200 speed was no longer the priority. The marshals, they had 593 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:23.200 accepted the safest way onto Randy Weaver's mountain was to 594 00:26:23.220 --> 00:26:24.900 make him believe that they didn't want him at all. 595 00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:30.240 This is just insanely crazy. Wow. 596 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:33.910 Waiting that long required the marshals to understand exactly what 597 00:26:33.930 --> 00:26:38.099 they might face, but The file they inherited made Randy 598 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:41.079 look more dangerous every time another agency added something to it. 599 00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:44.240 The ATF passed along reports that he had a criminal 600 00:26:44.279 --> 00:26:45.859 record and had once robbed a bank. 601 00:26:46.140 --> 00:26:50.750 Oh, my goodness. Neither claim was true. 602 00:26:51.450 --> 00:26:53.890 So the ATF is just out here actively making up 603 00:26:53.930 --> 00:26:54.769 shit about somebody. 604 00:26:54.970 --> 00:26:57.410 Oh, my gosh. They wanted all the guns they had 605 00:26:57.450 --> 00:27:03.009 in theirs. I guarantee it. Obviously, dude. Quite a bit, probably. Yeah. Oh, 606 00:27:03.069 --> 00:27:03.640 his army service. 607 00:27:03.660 --> 00:27:04.769 They're in a little remote part. 608 00:27:04.670 --> 00:27:05.170 Of the country. 609 00:27:05.309 --> 00:27:07.119 These guys have nothing fucking else better to do. 610 00:27:07.150 --> 00:27:08.170 So they're like, well, this is our. 611 00:27:08.130 --> 00:27:09.230 One chance at action, boys. 612 00:27:09.410 --> 00:27:12.029 Fucking ridiculous. Oh, my goodness. 613 00:27:12.210 --> 00:27:14.970 His army service, it was real. He did earn the 614 00:27:15.009 --> 00:27:16.970 Green Beret, but he never fought in Vietnam. 615 00:27:16.990 --> 00:27:21.390 So what? He never claimed to. Over time, that background was. 616 00:27:21.410 --> 00:27:23.130 Yeah, but he still earned the Green Beret, which means 617 00:27:23.170 --> 00:27:23.990 he's a bad motherfucker. 618 00:27:24.009 --> 00:27:24.349 Right. 619 00:27:24.849 --> 00:27:27.809 Over time, that background was sometimes repeated as though he 620 00:27:27.849 --> 00:27:29.769 were an experienced combat veteran trained to. 621 00:27:29.789 --> 00:27:30.829 Kill from the Moans. 622 00:27:31.569 --> 00:27:33.309 They were probably rambling it up. Right. 623 00:27:33.329 --> 00:27:33.910 Ramble, yeah. 624 00:27:33.950 --> 00:27:36.329 Ramble was probably, yeah, Ramble was the thing. So they're like, 625 00:27:36.349 --> 00:27:38.569 this is fucking John Ramble up there. 626 00:27:38.589 --> 00:27:39.490 Oh, my goodness. 627 00:27:39.710 --> 00:27:44.240 Other reports, they claim the property contained tunnels, bunkers, hidden explosives, 628 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:46.279 automatic weapons all over the property. 629 00:27:46.299 --> 00:27:47.119 There's probably some of those. 630 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:48.039 Booby traps. 631 00:27:48.059 --> 00:27:48.740 Maybe some of those. 632 00:27:49.160 --> 00:27:51.430 There were stories that the family had prepared caves where 633 00:27:51.450 --> 00:27:53.990 they could survive a siege and that anyone approaching the 634 00:27:54.029 --> 00:27:56.210 cabin would enter a carefully built defensive position. 635 00:27:57.329 --> 00:27:57.430 Wow. 636 00:28:27.940 --> 00:28:30.200 Randy's own statements made it easier to believe the worst. 637 00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:33.799 He talked about dying rather than surrendering. He kept his 638 00:28:33.839 --> 00:28:36.900 family armed and described the government as an enemy that 639 00:28:36.980 --> 00:28:40.549 might attack them. When visitors approached, Randy, Harris, or the 640 00:28:40.569 --> 00:28:43.089 children sometimes watched from covered positions until they knew who 641 00:28:43.130 --> 00:28:43.549 had arrived. 642 00:28:43.569 --> 00:28:44.309 I mean, why not? 643 00:28:45.349 --> 00:28:47.049 That was enough to confirm that the family was prepared 644 00:28:47.069 --> 00:28:49.410 to resist, even if it did not prove the cabinet 645 00:28:49.450 --> 00:28:52.829 were surrounded by bombs and tunnels. The most damaging report? 646 00:28:53.289 --> 00:28:57.259 April 1992. helicopter hired for a television program. 647 00:28:57.460 --> 00:28:58.599 They flew over that area. 648 00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:01.750 One pilot told reporters that someone on the Weaver property 649 00:29:01.789 --> 00:29:02.529 had fired a. 650 00:29:02.549 --> 00:29:03.130 Gun at him. 651

00:29:03.150 --> 00:29:06.210 Well, that takes things to a new level. 652 00:29:06.410 --> 00:29:06.609 Right. 653 00:29:06.670 --> 00:29:09.809 If it's true, newspapers quickly picked up that story and 654 00:29:10.210 --> 00:29:18.150 supposed attack became another example of Randy's willingness to shoot 655 00:29:18.190 --> 00:29:21.990 at anyone who came near their mountain. But the evidence 656 00:29:22.029 --> 00:29:25.420 underneath it is weak. A marshal working nearby had seen 657 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:29.259 the helicopter and he didn't report hearing any gunfire. Ranney 658 00:29:29.299 --> 00:29:30.759 denied anyone had shot at all. He was like, what 659 00:29:30.779 --> 00:29:31.319 are you talking about? 660 00:29:31.339 --> 00:29:31.779 Nobody shot. 661 00:29:31.980 --> 00:29:33.440 It's just a fucking helicopter. You know how many times 662 00:29:33.460 --> 00:29:37.289 you see helicopters? FBI questioned the other pilot and the 663 00:29:37.309 --> 00:29:38.789 man said there had been no shooting. 664 00:29:38.809 --> 00:29:39.950 Here we go. 665 00:29:40.690 --> 00:29:43.950 Even with those contradictions the claim survived because why it 666 00:29:44.230 --> 00:29:48.500 was in the files it later appeared among the acts 667 00:29:48.579 --> 00:29:51.259 prosecutors accused the weavers and kevin harris of committing as 668 00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:53.720 part of conspiracy against the government they even shot at 669 00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:55.599 a news helicopter. 670 00:29:55.430 --> 00:29:58.259 A conspiracy against the government that they created. 671 00:29:58.339 --> 00:30:01.299 The Justice Department would eventually criticize that decision because the 672 00:30:01.319 --> 00:30:04.640 prosecution already possessed evidence that no shots have been fired. 673 00:30:06.420 --> 00:30:07.759 None of this, though, made Randy. 674 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:10.660 One from a frickin' marshal agent and one from the 675 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:13.180 actual one of the pilots that was on the damn helicopter. 676 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:13.880 Oh, my goodness. 677 00:30:13.900 --> 00:30:14.779 What are we doing? 678 00:30:15.259 --> 00:30:19.250 But regardless, the government's eyes, none of this made Randy harmless. 679 00:30:19.869 --> 00:30:23.109 He was wanted on a valid warrant, had openly threatened 680 00:30:23.130 --> 00:30:26.309 to resist... and allowed his chariot to carry weapons while 681 00:30:26.349 --> 00:30:29.809 living inside a confrontation he had helped create. They're carrying 682 00:30:29.849 --> 00:30:31.529 weapons because they're in the middle of the woods. You 683 00:30:31.549 --> 00:30:35.150 know what's in those woods in Idaho? Bear, fucking moose. 684 00:30:35.799 --> 00:30:39.799 Sasquatch. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. Yeah, man. 685 00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:42.779 But the difference between an armed man refusing to surrender 686 00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:46.859 and a combat-trained bank robber waiting behind explosives

was enormous. 687 00:30:47.059 --> 00:30:49.380 I would too, right? 688 00:30:50.269 --> 00:30:53.089 And by the summer of 92, both versions existed. in 689 00:30:53.109 --> 00:30:56.670 the same federal paperwork. The careful marshals planning the arrests, 690 00:30:56.970 --> 00:30:59.019 they knew some of the information could not be trusted. 691 00:30:59.720 --> 00:31:02.319 But they still had to repair as though the worst 692 00:31:02.359 --> 00:31:06.400 parts may actually be true, I guess. The undercover operation 693 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:10.920 now had a name, Northern Exposure, and final approval came 694 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.349 in early August. Since the property had not been watched 695 00:31:14.390 --> 00:31:16.750 closely for several months, the team needed one more trip 696 00:31:16.849 --> 00:31:19.589 up the mountain before replacing undercover deputies next door. 697 00:31:19.609 --> 00:31:20.990 It was supposed to. 698 00:31:20.970 --> 00:31:24.950 Be another quiet reconnaissance, A chance to update their information, 699 00:31:25.549 --> 00:31:29.049 find safe positions for the men protecting the operation. But instead, 700 00:31:29.490 --> 00:31:33.750 it would bring armed marshals Randy, Kevin Harris, and 14-year-old 701 00:31:33.809 --> 00:31:36.750 Sammy Weaver onto the same narrow trail. 702 00:31:37.849 --> 00:31:40.359 Wow, talk about fucking... Fate. 703 00:31:40.539 --> 00:31:40.900 Right. 704 00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:41.740 Holy shit. 705 00:31:42.420 --> 00:31:46.579 The surveillance team gathered in northern Idaho August 17, 1992. 706 00:31:46.579 --> 00:31:49.000 Art Roderick, he led the mission, joined by Larry Cooper, 707 00:31:49.079 --> 00:31:52.819 David Hunt, Joseph Thomas, Frank Norris, and William Deegan. who 708 00:31:52.859 --> 00:31:55.839 was an experienced member of the Marshal Services Special Operations Group, 709 00:31:55.859 --> 00:31:59.380 had flown all the way in from Boston. Their assignment 710 00:31:59.400 --> 00:32:01.509 was to update the old surveillance, study the ground around 711 00:32:01.549 --> 00:32:04.349 the cabin, identify positions where hidden teams could protect the 712 00:32:04.410 --> 00:32:06.990 undercover couple once they began appearing on the neighboring land. 713 00:32:08.029 --> 00:32:09.710 They were not going up the mountain to arrest Randy 714 00:32:09.730 --> 00:32:12.029 that morning, and they had orders to avoid any confrontation 715 00:32:12.049 --> 00:32:14.809 with the family. About 2.30 in the morning, August 21st, 716 00:32:14.829 --> 00:32:18.190 the six Marshals left their temporary command post on Schweitzer Mountain, 717 00:32:19.049 --> 00:32:20.750 drove part of the way in a van, transferred to 718 00:32:20.769 --> 00:32:24.019 a Jeep, reached their starting point around 4.30. Each man 719 00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:27.279 wore camo, carried a radio, night vision equipment, a handgun, 720 00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:31.740 and a rifle or a carbine. Bulletproof vests, they were available, 721 00:32:31.779 --> 00:32:33.059 but they chose not to wear them because of the 722 00:32:33.099 --> 00:32:36.960 difficult climb. Deegan, he brought several weapons from Boston, including 723 00:32:36.980 --> 00:32:40.329 a sniper rifle, but the team left that behind because, obviously, 724 00:32:40.369 --> 00:32:41.190 what the fuck are you going to do with it 725 00:32:41.210 --> 00:32:41.809 when you're walking? 726 00:32:42.069 --> 00:32:42.269 Right. 727 00:32:43.349 --> 00:32:45.190 Moving in darkness, the marshals followed a trail to a 728 00:32:45.250 --> 00:32:48.339 junction shaped like the letter Y. Hunt, Thomas, and Norris, 729 00:32:48.359 --> 00:32:50.599 they continued toward an observation post on the north ridge, 730 00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:53.059 about a half mile from the cabin. They carried a 731 00:32:53.079 --> 00:32:58.700 spotting scope, a still camera, and a video camera. Roderick, Cooper, Deegan, 732 00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:00.809 they moved closer to inspect the routes around the property. 733 00:33:01.289 --> 00:33:03.769 As daylight came up, the observation team watched Sammy and 734 00:33:03.809 --> 00:33:05.910 Kevin Harris checking the area around the cabin whenever the 735 00:33:05.950 --> 00:33:06.869 family's dogs barked. 736 00:33:07.950 --> 00:33:08.690 I've got patrols. 737 00:33:09.589 --> 00:33:12.970 Roderick's group studied the driveway, outbuildings, the garden, the spring house, 738 00:33:13.009 --> 00:33:15.130 and possible hiding places for the teams that would cover 739 00:33:15.150 --> 00:33:18.529 the undercover operations. At one point, Roderick, he threw two 740 00:33:18.569 --> 00:33:20.250 rocks to see how far the sound carried and whether 741 00:33:20.269 --> 00:33:24.009 the dogs would react. Nothing happened. The men continued toward 742 00:33:24.029 --> 00:33:26.250 the spring house, entering the area closest to the cabin. 743 00:33:27.029 --> 00:33:29.539 Then the observation team radioed that the weavers were responding 744 00:33:29.579 --> 00:33:32.460 to a vehicle coming up the road. Those dogs, they 745 00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:34.240 began barking and people came out of the cabin to 746 00:33:34.279 --> 00:33:37.539 take their usual positions. Vicki, she stayed near the house 747 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:40.059 as Roderick, Cooper, and Deacon prepared to leave the family's 748 00:33:40.099 --> 00:33:43.319 yellow lab striker. He caught their scent and charged into 749 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:47.339 the woods. Kevin Harris, he followed with a rifle. Randy 750 00:33:47.380 --> 00:33:50.660 and Sammy came from behind, also armed. Harris later said 751 00:33:50.680 --> 00:33:52.519 the dog's reaction made him think it had found either 752 00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:55.500 a person or a large animal. The marshals knew they 753 00:33:55.519 --> 00:34:00.829 had been discovered and began moving quickly downhill. They crashed 754 00:34:01.029 --> 00:34:03.789

through thick brush, making far more noise than they had 755 00:34:03.809 --> 00:34:08.309 during the approach, while Stryker and Harris continued closing the distance. Roderick, 756 00:34:08.329 --> 00:34:10.150 he believed they could have stopped, hidden in the woods 757 00:34:10.190 --> 00:34:12.210 and opened fire, but their orders were still to avoid 758 00:34:12.230 --> 00:34:12.750 a confrontation. 759 00:34:12.789 --> 00:34:14.570 Right. What the fuck? What are you doing, Roderick? 760 00:34:14.710 --> 00:34:14.949 Right. 761 00:34:15.190 --> 00:34:18.349 They kept retreating until the train narrowed around them. Roderick, 762 00:34:18.389 --> 00:34:20.929 he reached the Y first. Deegan dropped behind a stump 763 00:34:20.949 --> 00:34:22.530 near the edge of the trail, and Cooper moved into 764 00:34:22.570 --> 00:34:25.260 another position as the dog, Harris, and Sammy came through 765 00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:28.559 the trees behind them. The quiet surveillance mission was over. 766 00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:29.039 I bet. 767 00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:32.400 Within moments, Stryker, Sammy Weaver, and William Deegan would all 768 00:34:32.420 --> 00:34:32.780 be dead. 769 00:34:32.800 --> 00:34:32.880 Yeah. 770 00:34:33.960 --> 00:34:35.920 And everyone left alive, they would all tell a different 771 00:34:35.940 --> 00:34:38.500 story about what shot started it and how it happened. 772 00:34:38.559 --> 00:34:40.239 Son of a bitch, dude. Good lord. 773 00:34:41.960 --> 00:34:44.840 Randy, he reached the Y from a different trail, suddenly 774 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:48.699 found himself about 40 feet from Cooper. Both men appeared surprised. 775 00:34:48.840 --> 00:34:50.079 What the fuck? 776 00:34:50.360 --> 00:34:52.380 Cooper later said he shouted for everyone to back off 777 00:34:52.800 --> 00:34:56.780 and identified the group were United States Marshals. Roderick also 778 00:34:56.860 --> 00:35:00.639 said he yelled for Randy to stop. But Randy turned 779 00:35:00.679 --> 00:35:04.159 toward the cabin and disappeared from his view. Stryker, the dog, 780 00:35:04.239 --> 00:35:07.559 ran around Cooper, growling and circling close enough that Cooper 781 00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:10.380 considered shooting him. He held back because Harris was watching, 782 00:35:11.059 --> 00:35:12.480 and he feared killing the dog in front of him 783 00:35:12.519 --> 00:35:16.389 would start a gunfight, obviously. Stryker moved past Cooper and 784 00:35:16.469 --> 00:35:17.730 ran toward Roderick instead. 785 00:35:17.969 --> 00:35:19.349 We all know Roderick. He's got that trigger. 786 00:35:19.369 --> 00:35:20.570 He's got trigger happy, little fucker. 787 00:35:21.349 --> 00:35:23.989 Harris and Sammy entered the clearing near Deegan, who was 788 00:35:24.050 --> 00:35:27.170 crouched behind a stump. From there, the two versions, they 789 00:35:27.190 --> 00:35:30.230 break apart. Cooper said Deegan rose to one knee, aimed 790 00:35:30.250 --> 00:35:31.670

his rifle, and called out, Stop! 791 00:35:32.030 --> 00:35:32.260 U.S. 792 00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:32.570 Marshal! 793 00:35:33.219 --> 00:35:35.300 According to Cooper, Harris had his back to Deegan, but 794 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:38.940 spun around and fired his. 30- 06 from waist level before 795 00:35:38.980 --> 00:35:41.260 Cooper could even finish identifying himself. 796 00:35:41.460 --> 00:35:44.039 I don't know about that. The bullet struck Deegan in 797 00:35:44.059 --> 00:35:44.480 the chest. 798 00:35:44.900 --> 00:35:48.260 Cooper fired a three-round burst from a suppressed 9mm at Harris, 799 00:35:48.639 --> 00:35:52.349 who dropped behind cover. Roderick, he was farther down trail 800 00:35:52.889 --> 00:35:54.989 and could not see what was happening between Harris and Deegan. 801 00:35:56.090 --> 00:35:58.469 He heard a heavy shot from that direction, then saw 802 00:35:58.489 --> 00:36:01.230 a striker coming toward him, believing a dog might attack. 803 00:36:01.659 --> 00:36:04.070 or lead the others directly to his position, Roderick fired 804 00:36:04.190 --> 00:36:06.690 once with his M16, hit Stryker near the base of 805 00:36:06.710 --> 00:36:11.090 his spine. Sammy saw his dog fall, cursed at Roderick, 806 00:36:11.110 --> 00:36:14.639 and fired at least two rounds from his Mini-14. Roderick 807 00:36:14.699 --> 00:36:16.800 dove into the trees. Cooper heard the shoot and shift 808 00:36:16.840 --> 00:36:19.840 toward Roderick and tried to reach Deegan. He fired another 809 00:36:19.880 --> 00:36:23.119 three-round burst toward the gunfire. Then he saw Sammy running 810 00:36:23.179 --> 00:36:25.969 uphill toward the cabin. Cooper laid it and insisted he 811 00:36:26.030 --> 00:36:28.889 did not believe he had hit him. Harris' account reversed 812 00:36:28.929 --> 00:36:32.030 the reversed the most important part of that sequence. He 813 00:36:32.050 --> 00:36:35.190 said that Roderick shot Stryker first. Sammy yelled at the 814 00:36:35.230 --> 00:36:38.250 marshal for killing his dog and fired back. Harris, he 815 00:36:38.289 --> 00:36:40.090 claimed that Deegan then came out of the woods and 816 00:36:40.150 --> 00:36:43.090 shot Sammy in the arm. Seeing the boy hit, Harris 817 00:36:43.150 --> 00:36:46.260 raised his. 30- 06 and fired once into Deegan's chest. That's 818 00:36:46.280 --> 00:36:49.659 probably what happened. Under that version, Harris did kill Deegan, 819 00:36:50.079 --> 00:36:52.099 but only after the marshals had killed the dog and 820 00:36:52.159 --> 00:36:55.329 opened fire on Sammy. Harris also said that he did 821 00:36:55.369 --> 00:36:59.130 not hear anyone else identifying themselves as U.S. Marshals until 822 00:36:59.150 --> 00:37:03.789 the shooting was nearly over. Randy's recollection was again different. 823 00:37:04.289 --> 00:37:04.769 He wasn't there. 824 00:37:05.030 --> 00:37:07.449 He remembered hearing someone order him to freeze before the 825 00:37:07.489 --> 00:37:11.110 gunfire began, followed by Striker yelping and the woods erupting 826 00:37:11.159 --> 00:37:14.159 in shots. The entire fight lasted only seconds. 827 00:37:14.360 --> 00:37:15.039 As it usually does. 828 00:37:15.420 --> 00:37:18.780 Deegan's chest wound was fatal. Cooper reached him while he 829 00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:21.820 was still conscious but unable to speak. And within moments, 830 00:37:22.139 --> 00:37:23.300 Deegan stopped breathing. 831 00:37:23.750 --> 00:37:24.889 Should have worn those vests, boys. 832 00:37:25.329 --> 00:37:26.409 Sammy had been hit twice. 833 00:37:26.590 --> 00:37:29.429 One bullet struck near his right elbow, traveled through an arm, 834 00:37:29.489 --> 00:37:32.449 and shattered part of his rifle stock. The fatal round 835 00:37:32.710 --> 00:37:35.679 entered his back, passed through his body from left to 836 00:37:35.739 --> 00:37:39.219 right as he moved toward the cabin. Harris found him 837 00:37:39.280 --> 00:37:42.699 on the trail, tried to help, and realized the boy 838 00:37:42.739 --> 00:37:46.199 was dead. He then carried or helped move Sammy uphill. 839 00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:48.539 This is where Randy and Vicky brought their son's body 840 00:37:48.559 --> 00:37:51.840 into a small shed near the house. The physical evidence 841 00:37:51.880 --> 00:37:56.090 settled some questions. but left the largest one unanswered. Harris 842 00:37:56.309 --> 00:37:59.690 fired the bullet that killed Deacon, something he never denied. 843 00:38:00.150 --> 00:38:04.070 Roderick fired the single round that killed Stryker. Ammo counts 844 00:38:04.110 --> 00:38:06.639 show that Cooper fired six rounds from his 9mm and 845 00:38:06.679 --> 00:38:08.519 that Deacon's M16 had fired seven. 846 00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:11.460 But he only fired a single shot, remember? 847 00:38:11.780 --> 00:38:14.340 Although none of the surviving marshals remember seeing Deacon pull 848 00:38:14.380 --> 00:38:18.619 the trigger. The three marshals stationed at the observation post 849 00:38:18.679 --> 00:38:21.800 did not fire at all. Investigators could not determine how 850 00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:25.300 many shots came from Randy, Harris, and Sammy. Several marshals 851 00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:29.900 thought the first shot sounded like Harris' heavier. 30- 06, but 852 00:38:29.980 --> 00:38:32.710 another one believed the first shot came from a. 223, 853 00:38:32.710 --> 00:38:37.329 the same caliber carried by Roderick and Deegan. They generally 854 00:38:37.389 --> 00:38:39.829 agreed that there had been one shot, then two close 855 00:38:39.849 --> 00:38:43.550 followed together, followed by a burst of gunfire. That was 856 00:38:43.590 --> 00:38:46.820 not enough to identify who shot first. The evidence surrounding 857 00:38:46.860 --> 00:38:50.980 Sammy's death pointed more strongly in one direction. A prosecution 858 00:38:51.019 --> 00:38:54.039 expert concluded the fatal wound was caused by a 9mm 859 00:38:54.059 -->

00:38:57.599 bullet similar to an ammo Cooper carried and entry wound 860 00:38:57.659 --> 00:38:58.219 in the back. 861 00:38:58.659 --> 00:38:58.940 Right. 862 00:38:59.489 --> 00:39:01.510 Making Cooper the most likely person to have fired it. 863 00:39:02.849 --> 00:39:06.030 Years later, tests on a bullet recovered during another search 864 00:39:06.050 --> 00:39:08.949 reportedly matched it to Cooper's gun and found fibers consistent 865 00:39:08.969 --> 00:39:09.829 with Sammy's shirt. 866 00:39:10.630 --> 00:39:11.809 Damn, I went through him, man. 867 00:39:12.250 --> 00:39:15.340 Even then, nothing showed that Cooper deliberately aimed at the boy. 868 00:39:15.800 --> 00:39:18.840 He was firing toward people shooting at marshals. Sammy was 869 00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:23.070 struck while running away. The Justice Department later concluded that 870 00:39:23.090 --> 00:39:25.599 the marshals had not gone to the property planning an 871 00:39:25.659 --> 00:39:28.429 ambush and had shown restraint while trying to retreat. 872 00:39:28.469 --> 00:39:29.789 Well, nobody said they were planning an ambush. 873 00:39:29.849 --> 00:39:29.949 Right. 874 00:39:30.030 --> 00:39:31.250 Mean, holy hell, dude. 875 00:39:31.809 --> 00:39:34.130 It also admitted that the evidence could not produce a final, 876 00:39:34.349 --> 00:39:38.309 reliable order for every shot. The marshal account made Harris 877 00:39:38.329 --> 00:39:40.960 the man who began the fight by shooting Deegan, of course. 878 00:39:41.699 --> 00:39:44.280 The Harris account made Roderick's killing of Stryker the act 879 00:39:44.320 --> 00:39:46.519 that set everything off and placed Sammy under. 880 00:39:46.420 --> 00:39:50.219 Fire before Harris pulled the trigger. Neither version could ever 881 00:39:50.260 --> 00:39:50.559 be proven. 882 00:39:50.579 --> 00:39:52.280 Well, that's what you get when you got a little 883 00:39:52.300 --> 00:39:55.340 14-year-old fucking numbnuts that has a gun. You killed his dog. 884 00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:58.010 I get it. That's all he has. Living on a mountain. 885 00:39:58.050 --> 00:39:59.889 That's all he has is that dog. Right. Right. 886 00:40:00.230 --> 00:40:00.389 Right. 887 00:40:00.929 --> 00:40:01.969 Like, come on now, guys. 888 00:40:01.989 --> 00:40:05.110 You ever watch Where the Red Fern Grows? Damn it. 889 00:40:06.670 --> 00:40:07.050 Old Yeller? 890 00:40:07.309 --> 00:40:08.989 Man. Old Yeller? Yeah. 891 00:40:09.570 --> 00:40:12.809 What remained beyond dispute is that the armed men who 892 00:40:12.849 --> 00:40:15.920 have been trying to avoid one another finally met in 893 00:40:15.940 --> 00:40:21.230 the woods. A federal deputy. 14-year-old boy grieving over his 894 00:40:21.269 --> 00:40:24.969 dead dog. They died within feet from each other. And 895 00:40:25.010 --> 00:40:27.449 each side returned to its own people, believing the other 896 00:40:27.469 --> 00:40:29.289 had fired without cause. 897 00:40:30.429 --> 00:40:32.550 Well, the Weavers, they reached the cabin carrying Sammy's body, 898 00:40:32.610 --> 00:40:34.219 but there was nothing anyone could do for him. 899 00:40:34.260 --> 00:40:34.719 He's gone. 900 00:40:35.280 --> 00:40:37.059 They placed him inside a small building near the house 901 00:40:37.079 --> 00:40:41.460 that Vicki had used when giving birth to Alicia. Randy, Vicki, Sarah, Rachel, 902 00:40:41.480 --> 00:40:43.380 and the baby, they remained around the cabin with Harris, 903 00:40:43.539 --> 00:40:46.340 expecting the men in the woods to come after him. marshals. 904 00:40:46.380 --> 00:40:49.480 They had no idea Sammy was dead, though. From their 905 00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:52.530 position below the house, they heard screaming, crying, and scattered gunfire, 906 00:40:53.150 --> 00:40:55.130 but they assumed the family was reacting to Harris being 907 00:40:55.150 --> 00:40:58.210 wounded or killed. Cooper and Roderick, they stayed hidden with Deegan, 908 00:40:58.250 --> 00:41:01.489 while Norris, who's the team's medic, they tried to help him. Deegan, 909 00:41:01.570 --> 00:41:04.610 he died within minutes. Terrain made his body difficult to move. 910 00:41:05.630 --> 00:41:07.559 Hunt and Thomas, they worked their way off the mountain 911 00:41:07.579 --> 00:41:09.880 to find a telephone and report that a deputy marshal 912 00:41:09.920 --> 00:41:14.400 had just been killed. The call transformed the situation immediately. 913 00:41:15.030 --> 00:41:18.300 It's no longer just a reconnaissance anymore looking for ways 914 00:41:18.320 --> 00:41:21.900 to get the little family next door in. The Marshal Service, 915 00:41:21.940 --> 00:41:23.940 they opened its crisis center in Washington and ordered its 916 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:25.639 special operations group to Idaho. 917 00:41:25.760 --> 00:41:26.199 Oh, damn. 918 00:41:27.159 --> 00:41:29.500 The sheriff's deputies and Idaho State Police, they moved toward 919 00:41:29.519 --> 00:41:32.320 the property while Governor Cecil Andrus, he declared an emergency 920 00:41:32.360 --> 00:41:35.280 in Boundary County. That allowed the state to open up 921 00:41:35.300 --> 00:41:38.000 the National Guard Armory in Bonner's Ferry and provide equipment, 922 00:41:38.280 --> 00:41:40.059 which included armored personnel carriers. 923 00:41:41.099 --> 00:41:41.239 Wow. 924 00:41:42.059 --> 00:41:44.409 Agents from the FBI, the ATF, the Border Patrol, and 925 00:41:44.449 --> 00:41:47.369 other agencies began arriving as the area filled with vehicles, weapons, 926 00:41:47.429 --> 00:41:48.690 medical teams, and reporters. 927 00:41:48.889 --> 00:41:49.269 Of course. 928 00:41:49.969 --> 00:41:51.889 Late that day, a rescue team moved through rain and 929 00:41:51.929 --> 00:41:54.670 darkness to reach the marshals trapped below the cabin. Cooper 930 00:41:54.710 --> 00:41:55.150 and Roderick. 931 00:41:56.170 --> 00:41:57.570 They refused to leave without Deegan. 932 00:41:58.360 -->

00:42:00.500 After hours in the woods, they and Norris were finally 933 00:42:00.539 --> 00:42:05.239 brought out along with Deegan's body. First reports from the 934 00:42:05.260 --> 00:42:06.599 mountain were incomplete and sometimes wrong. 935 00:42:06.619 --> 00:42:06.739 Always. 936 00:42:06.780 --> 00:42:09.170 Always. What commanders knew for certain was that a federal 937 00:42:09.210 --> 00:42:10.929 marshal had been shot dead while trying to carry out 938 00:42:10.949 --> 00:42:14.369 an operation involving an armed fugitive. They were told Randy 939 00:42:14.409 --> 00:42:17.010 had been near the fight, Harris had fired the fatal round, 940 00:42:17.070 --> 00:42:18.989 and that family had returned to a cabin believed to 941 00:42:19.010 --> 00:42:19.929 contain several weapons. 942 00:42:20.940 --> 00:42:22.260 They also carried forward. 943 00:42:22.019 --> 00:42:26.159 Many of the older claims about automatic guns, fortified positions, tunnels, explosives, 944 00:42:26.420 --> 00:42:30.099 and a family prepared to die. What they didn't know 945 00:42:30.519 --> 00:42:33.420 was that Sammy Weaver had also been killed. From the 946 00:42:33.460 --> 00:42:35.260 federal side, the people in the cabin had just attacked 947 00:42:35.280 --> 00:42:38.159 a team of marshals and could fire in at anybody approaching. 948 00:42:39.079 --> 00:42:41.400 Inside the Weaver property, the family believed hidden agents had 949 00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:44.119 killed their dog and their son, then surrounded them before 950 00:42:44.139 --> 00:42:47.980 they could bury him. Neither side made contact the first day, 951 00:42:48.039 --> 00:42:50.920 capable of changing the other's understanding either. The FBI sent 952 00:42:50.940 --> 00:42:53.679 its hostage rescue team from Quantico, even though nobody inside 953 00:42:53.699 --> 00:42:57.320 the cabin was being held against their will. Eugene Glenn, 954 00:42:57.360 --> 00:42:59.280 the agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City office, 955 00:43:01.079 --> 00:43:02.760 He became the commander at the scene, with the FBI 956 00:43:02.780 --> 00:43:06.699 taking responsibility for the expanding operation, of course. The mountain 957 00:43:06.760 --> 00:43:09.659 was divided into armed positions. Snipers were prepared for deployment, 958 00:43:10.159 --> 00:43:14.420 plans beginning for forcing the people inside to surrender. By 959 00:43:14.440 --> 00:43:16.539 the morning of August 22nd, hundreds of agents and cops 960 00:43:16.559 --> 00:43:18.659 were moving into a place around a cabin occupied by 961 00:43:18.699 --> 00:43:20.980 a grieving family that had no intention of coming out. 962 00:43:22.179 --> 00:43:24.679 The FBI arrived expecting one of the most dangerous confrontations 963 00:43:24.699 --> 00:43:27.519 this hostage team could face. Before its snipers even entered 964 00:43:27.539 --> 00:43:29.860 the woods, commanders gave them permission to use deadly force 965 00:43:30.389 --> 00:43:33.690 Under rules written specifically for Ruby Ridge, you see somebody, 966 00:43:33.710 --> 00:43:34.750 you kill them, basically. 967 00:43:34.829 --> 00:43:36.269 That's fucked up, dude. Wow. 968 00:43:36.449 --> 00:43:39.469 Well, under FBI's normal policy, carrying a gun was not 969 00:43:39.510 --> 00:43:42.119 enough to make someone a target. An agent could use 970 00:43:42.139 --> 00:43:44.679 deadly force only when there was a reasonable relief that 971 00:43:44.699 --> 00:43:47.599 the person posed an immediate threat of death or serious 972 00:43:47.659 --> 00:43:52.159 injury to an agent or somebody else. If possible, the 973 00:43:52.219 --> 00:43:54.909 agent was also expected to identify himself and give a 974 00:43:54.949 --> 00:43:56.389 warning before even firing a shot. 975 00:43:56.409 --> 00:43:57.750 I don't think you're going to do that when you're 976 00:43:57.769 --> 00:43:58.789 a sniper anyways, but. 977 00:43:59.650 --> 00:44:02.030 That policy still gave agents the right to protect themselves, 978 00:44:02.070 --> 00:44:04.190 but it required them to judge what the armed person 979 00:44:04.210 --> 00:44:06.239 was doing at that very moment the shot was taken. 980 00:44:07.510 --> 00:44:10.800 The commanders gathering at Ruby Ridge decided that standard did 981 00:44:10.840 --> 00:44:13.280 not give the hostage rescue team enough room to operate. 982 00:44:14.579 --> 00:44:18.059 They believed that the Weavers and Harris had ambushed Marshalls, 983 00:44:18.380 --> 00:44:21.500 murdered Deegan, fired on a television helicopter, and prepared the 984 00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:22.599 cabin for a final battle. 985 00:44:22.920 --> 00:44:25.519 Even though the helicopter, do they know that the helicopter 986 00:44:25.559 --> 00:44:26.380 was fake by now? 987 00:44:26.420 --> 00:44:27.320 They interviewed the guy. 988 00:44:27.340 --> 00:44:30.260 Geez, old Pete. They interviewed the pilot. Some of the 989 00:44:30.300 --> 00:44:32.219 information was- And the other deputies. Right. 990 00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:34.179 Our marshals even said they didn't hear anything. 991 00:44:34.380 --> 00:44:36.519 And as we know, some of the information was false 992 00:44:36.539 --> 00:44:39.500 or unproven, but it shaped the plan drawn up during 993 00:44:39.519 --> 00:44:42.019 the night of the 21st of August and the following morning. 994 00:44:42.940 --> 00:44:45.739 Special rules said that before any surrender announcement, if an 995 00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:48.659 adult male was seen with a weapon, deadly force can 996 00:44:48.800 --> 00:44:51.409 and should be employed, as long as a shot could 997 00:44:51.429 --> 00:44:55.329 be taken without endangering the children. After the surrender announcement, 998 00:44:55.670 --> 00:44:58.119 the same instruction applied to any armed adult. who was 999 00:44:58.199 --> 00:45:02.469 not trying to give up. Animals that compromise an agent's position, murdered, 1000 00:45:03.070 -->

00:45:06.369 can be. Everyone else remained covered by the FBI's usual policy. 1001 00:45:06.889 --> 00:45:10.010 The most important change was contained in three words, can 1002 00:45:10.510 --> 00:45:13.909 and should. They did not simply allow an agent to 1003 00:45:13.949 --> 00:45:15.139 fire when a threat appeared. 1004 00:45:15.159 --> 00:45:16.300 They basically said, do it. 1005 00:45:16.440 --> 00:45:17.219 They told him that if he. 1006 00:45:17.199 --> 00:45:19.380 Saw an armed adult male and could take the shot 1007 00:45:19.420 --> 00:45:23.059 without hitting the child, get it done, son. Since Randy 1008 00:45:23.079 --> 00:45:25.699 and Harris were two and a half routinely carried guns 1009 00:45:25.860 --> 00:45:28.059 all around their property at every hour of the day. 1010 00:45:28.639 --> 00:45:30.760 The rule made it possible to shoot either man without 1011 00:45:30.800 --> 00:45:33.300 first seeing him aim, fire, or even threaten anybody, which 1012 00:45:33.320 --> 00:45:35.960 is bullshit. It also allowed that shot to happen before 1013 00:45:35.980 --> 00:45:38.840 the FBI can even announce that he is present or 1014 00:45:39.059 --> 00:45:41.920 order the family to surrender. You just do it. Mums 1015 00:45:41.940 --> 00:45:45.260 the word. Responsibility for the wording became a fight of 1016 00:45:45.320 --> 00:45:49.820 its own. FBI Commander Eugene Glenn, Marshal Service Official Wayne Smith, 1017 00:45:49.840 --> 00:45:53.340 they call him Duke, Hostage Rescue Team Commander Richard Rogers, 1018 00:45:54.050 --> 00:45:56.659 and senior FBI officials in Washington all took part in 1019 00:45:56.679 --> 00:46:01.179 discussions as the plan moved between Idaho and headquarters. Rogers, 1020 00:46:01.400 --> 00:46:03.679 he was tied to the change that strengthened the language 1021 00:46:03.719 --> 00:46:06.579 from deadly force to can be used to can and 1022 00:46:06.719 --> 00:46:11.039 should be used. Larry Potts, an assistant FBI director at headquarters, 1023 00:46:11.920 --> 00:46:14.519 and his deputy Danny Colson, they were involved in reviewing 1024 00:46:14.539 --> 00:46:17.599 the operation, but later accounts conflicted over exactly what they 1025 00:46:17.639 --> 00:46:20.539 approved and when they even knew the final wording had changed. 1026 00:46:21.599 --> 00:46:23.260 The order reached the men on the mountain without any 1027 00:46:23.300 --> 00:46:26.739 of those arguments attached. Snipers remembered hearing that any armed 1028 00:46:26.760 --> 00:46:28.800 adult male could be taken out if the shot did 1029 00:46:28.840 --> 00:46:29.809 not put a child at risk. 1030 00:46:29.909 --> 00:46:30.789 That's all they need to know. 1031 00:46:31.190 --> 00:46:34.010 Some later described it as a green light, baby. Others 1032 00:46:34.050 --> 00:46:36.590 said that they understood that the FBI's ordinary deadly force 1033 00:46:36.610 --> 00:46:39.750 policy still applied and that they would not shoot someone 1034 00:46:39.829 --> 00:46:42.050 merely just for carrying a weapon. You would think anybody 1035 00:46:42.070 --> 00:46:45.190 with a reasonable fucking brain wouldn't anyways. The fact that 1036 00:46:45.250 --> 00:46:47.889 trained agents came away with different understandings showed how dangerous 1037 00:46:47.909 --> 00:46:51.489 the wording was before anyone fired. There was another problem. 1038 00:46:52.199 --> 00:46:55.559 It was inside the command post. Negotiators and tactical teams, 1039 00:46:55.579 --> 00:46:59.619 they were working from different assumptions. A negotiator normally needed 1040 00:46:59.659 --> 00:47:02.639 time to build contact, calm the people inside down, and 1041 00:47:02.679 --> 00:47:05.500 find a way to bring them out. The hostage rescue 1042 00:47:05.519 --> 00:47:08.070 team was being sent close to the cabin under instructions 1043 00:47:08.110 --> 00:47:10.389 built around the belief that the armed adults could already 1044 00:47:10.449 --> 00:47:10.909 be shot. 1045 00:47:10.949 --> 00:47:11.650 That's crazy. 1046 00:47:12.289 --> 00:47:14.349 Nobody had yet told Randy that the FBI was there. 1047 00:47:14.710 --> 00:47:17.289 Nobody had ordered Harris to put down his rifle. Nobody 1048 00:47:17.309 --> 00:47:19.389 had announced that the family was surrounded or even offered 1049 00:47:19.449 --> 00:47:23.440 a clear path to surrender. Even so, sniper teams, they 1050 00:47:23.460 --> 00:47:26.570 began climbing into position overlooking the cabin on August 22nd. 1051 00:47:27.489 --> 00:47:31.929 Among them, Lon Horochi, a West Point graduate. 1052 00:47:32.030 --> 00:47:33.449 Horochi? Horochi, yeah. 1053 00:47:33.710 --> 00:47:37.349 A West Point graduate and an experienced FBI sniper. From 1054 00:47:37.389 --> 00:47:38.989 his position in the woods, he could see parts of 1055 00:47:39.030 --> 00:47:41.750 the cabin, the yard, and small shed where Sammy's body 1056 00:47:41.789 --> 00:47:45.199 had been placed. Horochi, he had been told that the 1057 00:47:45.260 --> 00:47:47.199 armed men on the property had already killed a marshal 1058 00:47:47.219 --> 00:47:50.639 and would likely shoot again. He'd also been given rules 1059 00:47:50.679 --> 00:47:52.710 that treated the sight of a gun as enough reason 1060 00:47:52.889 --> 00:47:56.949 to pull the trigger. And by late afternoon, Randy, Harris, 1061 00:47:57.150 --> 00:47:59.590 and Sarah, they stepped into the open near the shed, 1062 00:48:00.309 --> 00:48:04.730 unaware that an FBI sniper had his little crosshairs right 1063 00:48:04.849 --> 00:48:06.539 on him, watching them through a scope. 1064 00:48:07.619 --> 00:48:11.139 Shortly before 6 that evening, Horiyuchi, he watched three people 1065 00:48:11.179 --> 00:48:12.639 come out of the cabin and move toward the shed. 1066 00:48:14.420 --> 00:48:17.070 Shortly before 6 that evening, Horiyuchi... He didn't know who 1067 00:48:17.110 --> 00:48:19.070 these people were, but he could

see two adult males 1068 00:48:19.110 --> 00:48:21.190 and a teenage girl. At least one of the men 1069 00:48:21.230 --> 00:48:24.489 carried a long gun. An FBI helicopter was also somewhere 1070 00:48:24.530 --> 00:48:26.739 near the mountain. Horiyuchi said the armed men looked toward 1071 00:48:26.760 --> 00:48:28.940 the sky and began raising his rifle as though he might. 1072 00:48:28.840 --> 00:48:30.760 Fire at it. I don't know about that. 1073 00:48:31.179 --> 00:48:32.099 That man was Randy. 1074 00:48:32.320 --> 00:48:34.159 Maybe if he had a scope on it. He just 1075 00:48:34.199 --> 00:48:34.739 wanted to look. 1076 00:48:35.079 --> 00:48:37.739 What Randy was actually doing is his mains disputed, obviously. 1077 00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:39.590 He said he was lifting the latch on the shed 1078 00:48:39.619 --> 00:48:41.809 so he could visit his son's body. Not preparing to. 1079 00:48:41.789 --> 00:48:42.570 Shoot at a helicopter. 1080 00:48:43.659 --> 00:48:46.639 Horiyuchi places crosshairs on Randy and fired from roughly 200 1081 00:48:46.639 --> 00:48:47.079 yards away. 1082 00:48:47.219 --> 00:48:47.719 Oh, shit. 1083 00:48:48.280 --> 00:48:50.539 Randy moved as the trigger was pulled. The bullet entered 1084 00:48:50.579 --> 00:48:52.639 his back and passed out beneath his right armpit instead 1085 00:48:52.659 --> 00:48:57.500 of striking his spine. Horiyuchi initially believed he missed. Randy, Harris, 1086 00:48:57.559 --> 00:48:59.639 and Sarah had not heard a surrendered man or any warning. 1087 00:48:59.960 --> 00:49:00.260 Right. 1088 00:49:00.559 --> 00:49:02.699 That bullet hitting Randy was the first indication they had 1089 00:49:02.760 --> 00:49:04.940 that FBI snipers were positioned around the cabin. They said, 1090 00:49:04.960 --> 00:49:07.800 don't go outside now. They dropped behind the shed and 1091 00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:10.699 stayed there for somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds. Randy, 1092 00:49:10.719 --> 00:49:13.030 he was bleeding but could still move. When the three 1093 00:49:13.050 --> 00:49:14.590 of them broke from cover, they ran for the cabin. 1094 00:49:14.610 --> 00:49:17.809 Horiyuchi tracked them through his scope. He saw Randy and 1095 00:49:17.829 --> 00:49:20.409 Sarah reach the porch and pass through the door. Harris, 1096 00:49:20.449 --> 00:49:23.409 he came behind them carrying a rifle. Horiyuchi later said 1097 00:49:23.449 --> 00:49:25.019 that he believed Harris was the same man he had 1098 00:49:25.059 --> 00:49:28.059 seen raising the gun toward the helicopter. Although his testimony 1099 00:49:28.079 --> 00:49:29.980 about whether he could distinguish Harris from Randy was not 1100 00:49:30.019 --> 00:49:34.300 always consistent. Harris, he slowed as he reached the porch 1101 00:49:34.340 --> 00:49:36.090 and glanced toward the ridge where the sniper was hidden. 1102 00:49:36.909 --> 00:49:39.489 Horiyuchi fired again roughly 20 seconds after his first shot. 1103 00:49:40.389 -->

00:49:42.590 Harris was almost behind the door when the bullet arrived. 1104 00:49:43.230 --> 00:49:46.039 It passed through a glass pane, entered the cabin, struck 1105 00:49:46.119 --> 00:49:47.679 Vicki in the head as she stood on the other 1106 00:49:47.719 --> 00:49:49.360 side holding 10-month-old Elisheba. 1107 00:49:49.599 --> 00:49:50.280 That sucks. 1108 00:49:50.800 --> 00:49:52.059 The round continued through her. 1109 00:49:52.079 --> 00:49:52.599 Damn. 1110 00:49:53.159 --> 00:49:56.179 It hit Harris in the chest and arm. Vicki, she 1111 00:49:56.199 --> 00:49:59.239 died immediately. Harris fell inside the cabin with a serious 1112 00:49:59.280 --> 00:50:02.610 wound that would continue bleeding throughout the siege. Oriuchi, he 1113 00:50:02.630 --> 00:50:05.190 had not intended to shoot Vicki, obviously. He said the 1114 00:50:05.230 --> 00:50:06.190 open door blocked his view. 1115 00:50:06.210 --> 00:50:07.590 He should have never fucking shot. 1116 00:50:07.630 --> 00:50:08.889 She was standing behind it, right? 1117 00:50:08.969 --> 00:50:10.530 That's what they told you. Idiot. 1118 00:50:10.949 --> 00:50:12.849 Randy and Sarah later said Vicky had come toward the 1119 00:50:12.869 --> 00:50:14.760 porch after the first shot and called out, raising the 1120 00:50:14.780 --> 00:50:17.199 possibility that Horiyuchi could have and should have seen her. 1121 00:50:17.320 --> 00:50:18.079 Obviously he did. 1122 00:50:18.980 --> 00:50:21.400 Sarah also remembered the curtain over the door's glass being opened. 1123 00:50:21.780 --> 00:50:24.000 Other testimony challenged whether Vicky had ever moved far enough 1124 00:50:24.079 --> 00:50:28.099 outside to become visible from Horiyuchi's angle. And Horiyuchi maintained 1125 00:50:28.119 --> 00:50:31.059 that he could not see through the glass. Disagreement was 1126 00:50:31.099 --> 00:50:34.369 never completely resolved, obviously. It was clear that he fired 1127 00:50:34.409 --> 00:50:36.309 at a moving man running through a doorway without knowing 1128 00:50:36.329 --> 00:50:39.030 whether anyone stood behind it, and they specifically said, don't 1129 00:50:39.070 --> 00:50:40.130 harm the kids. How do you know if the kid's 1130 00:50:40.150 --> 00:50:43.900 not running fucking around? Horuchi later said Harris appeared to 1131 00:50:43.929 --> 00:50:45.920 be holding the door or moving someone aside just before 1132 00:50:45.940 --> 00:50:46.260 the shot. 1133 00:50:46.659 --> 00:50:47.840 Right, so someone was there. 1134 00:50:48.019 --> 00:50:49.699 So if he thought another person might be there, that 1135 00:50:49.739 --> 00:50:52.739 made firing even more harder to defend. The reason for 1136 00:50:52.760 --> 00:50:55.780 shooting Harris was also questioned. After the first bullet, nobody 1137 00:50:55.800 --> 00:50:59.099 from the cabin fired back. Randy, Harris, and Sarah then 1138 00:50:59.139 --> 00:51:01.760 ran for shelter. The helicopter had. 1139 00:51:01.699 --> 00:51:02.139 Not been hit. 1140 00:51:02.659 --> 00:51:04.800 Horiuchi later acknowledged that he did not fire the second 1141 00:51:04.820 --> 00:51:06.679 round because he believed Harris would shoot at it once 1142 00:51:06.719 --> 00:51:09.300 he entered the cabin. No one identified the FBI's presence 1143 00:51:09.360 --> 00:51:11.300 or ordered the group to surrender during the time between 1144 00:51:11.320 --> 00:51:14.940 the two shots. The Justice Department later concluded that Horiuchi's 1145 00:51:14.960 --> 00:51:17.820 first shot could be considered reasonable if he truly believed 1146 00:51:17.840 --> 00:51:20.489 Randy was about to fire at the helicopter. Second one, 1147 00:51:20.530 --> 00:51:23.929 that's different. Harris, he was retreating, not shooting, and the 1148 00:51:23.989 --> 00:51:25.369 FBI had time to issue a warning. 1149 00:51:25.389 --> 00:51:25.969 They didn't. 1150 00:51:26.429 --> 00:51:29.030 Investigators, they called the failure to demand surrender before firing 1151 00:51:29.050 --> 00:51:32.170 again inexcusable. Included that the second shot did not meet 1152 00:51:32.210 --> 00:51:33.329 the standard required. 1153 00:51:33.010 --> 00:51:34.989 For deadly force. Just fucking stupid. 1154 00:51:35.380 --> 00:51:38.400 The Senate investigation went even further. Finding that the shot 1155 00:51:38.440 --> 00:51:42.360 violated both normal FBI policy and the Constitution. Although one 1156 00:51:42.400 --> 00:51:44.039 member of the committee disagreed with that conclusion. 1157 00:51:44.119 --> 00:51:44.500 Oh, fuck off. 1158 00:51:44.519 --> 00:51:48.679 None of those findings mattered inside the cabin, though. Randy, 1159 00:51:48.739 --> 00:51:51.769 he was wounded. Harris, he was damn near dying. 1160 00:51:52.010 --> 00:51:52.909 Vicki, she's dead. 1161 00:51:53.789 --> 00:51:57.880 Laying near the doorway. Elisheba, she survived only inches away. Sarah, 1162 00:51:58.139 --> 00:52:00.320 she watched her brother die the day before, announcing her 1163 00:52:00.340 --> 00:52:03.730 mother killed right in front of her. Outside, Horiuchi reported 1164 00:52:03.750 --> 00:52:05.429 they hit fire twice and believed he had struck at 1165 00:52:05.449 --> 00:52:08.429 least one armed man. The agents, they heard a woman 1166 00:52:08.489 --> 00:52:12.309 screaming after the second shot. They didn't know why. Nobody 1167 00:52:12.349 --> 00:52:14.409 in command understood that Vicki was dead, and when the 1168 00:52:14.519 --> 00:52:17.639 FBI finally began calling toward the cabin, negotiators would speak 1169 00:52:17.679 --> 00:52:20.900 to her as though she were still alive. The family 1170 00:52:20.920 --> 00:52:23.820 heard those calls while sitting beside her body. Whatever chance 1171 00:52:23.840 --> 00:52:25.940 the government had of earning their trust had disappeared with 1172 00:52:25.960 --> 00:52:26.920 the bullet through the door. 1173 00:52:26.940 --> 00:52:28.639 You ain't kidding. You

fucking idiots. 1174 00:52:28.900 --> 00:52:32.400 Yeah, well, the FBI began calling toward the cabin through loudspeakers, 1175 00:52:33.099 --> 00:52:35.219 asking Randy and Harris to surrender and telling Vicki to 1176 00:52:35.260 --> 00:52:38.960 send the children out. Negotiators did not even know she's dead, 1177 00:52:39.019 --> 00:52:43.449 as we said. Family didn't even answer. Some messages sounded 1178 00:52:43.489 --> 00:52:45.309 painfully casual under the circumstances. 1179 00:52:45.829 --> 00:52:48.710 Come on, Vicki, it's not that serious. Just send the 1180 00:52:48.730 --> 00:52:49.309 kids out. 1181 00:52:49.349 --> 00:52:51.469 Right, including comments about meals and the weather. 1182 00:52:51.690 --> 00:52:52.170 Oh, jeez. 1183 00:52:53.360 --> 00:52:55.659 With others warned that the adults would be held responsible 1184 00:52:55.699 --> 00:52:59.820 if the children were harmed. From inside, the Weavers heard 1185 00:52:59.880 --> 00:53:01.969 agents reputantly call the name of a woman whose body 1186 00:53:02.010 --> 00:53:05.469 was lying beside them. The FBI believed silence was part 1187 00:53:05.489 --> 00:53:08.389 of the family's resistance. Randy and Sarah heard it as 1188 00:53:08.469 --> 00:53:10.670 proof that the people outside either did not know what 1189 00:53:10.710 --> 00:53:13.809 their sniper had done, or they were pretending not to know. 1190 00:53:15.050 --> 00:53:17.980 Harris' condition worsened as the wound in his chest continued 1191 00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:21.619 to bleed. The family had little medication or medical equipment. 1192 00:53:22.230 --> 00:53:24.349 And no safe way to get them to a hospital. Obviously, 1193 00:53:24.369 --> 00:53:27.710 they're surrounded by the cops. There is a safe way 1194 00:53:27.730 --> 00:53:28.550 to give them to the cops. 1195 00:53:28.590 --> 00:53:28.800 Right. 1196 00:53:29.300 --> 00:53:32.159 They also had Sammy's body in the shed. Vicky's inside 1197 00:53:32.179 --> 00:53:36.119 the cabin during the August heat. Randy tried to comfort 1198 00:53:36.139 --> 00:53:38.639 the children while dealing with his own wound, but there 1199 00:53:38.679 --> 00:53:41.719 was no real plan beyond refusing to come out. Beyond 1200 00:53:41.739 --> 00:53:45.420 the mountain, the operations were becoming a national story. Reporters 1201 00:53:45.519 --> 00:53:49.269 upon reporters filled the roads around Naples, while armed supporters, 1202 00:53:49.369 --> 00:53:54.590 white separatists, anti-government activists, and curious locos. They all gathered around. 1203 00:53:54.929 --> 00:53:55.349 Geez. 1204 00:53:55.949 --> 00:53:59.190 Others feared another gunfight if anyone tried to storm the cabin. Some, 1205 00:53:59.349 --> 00:54:01.300 they shouted at the agents and accused the government of 1206 00:54:01.340 --> 00:54:05.559 murdering the family. The FBI brought in armored vehicles, surveillance equipment, 1207 00:54:05.719 --> 00:54:08.400 enough firepower to overwhelm the property, and probably all Idaho. 1208 00:54:09.440 --> 00:54:11.659 But a direct assault still risked killing the children like 1209 00:54:11.679 --> 00:54:15.110 they cared now. Inside the command post, doubts were growing 1210 00:54:15.360 --> 00:54:19.449 about the special shooting rules. 26th of August, the FBI 1211 00:54:19.469 --> 00:54:22.590 withdrew them and returned it to its normal deadly force policy. Oh, 1212 00:54:22.650 --> 00:54:25.670 fucking time. But that could not undo the shots already fired. 1213 00:54:26.789 --> 00:54:29.389 First real break came when the commanders agreed to use 1214 00:54:29.409 --> 00:54:31.489 civilians the Weavers might trust. 1215 00:54:32.449 --> 00:54:35.130 James Gritz, he's. 1216 00:54:35.050 --> 00:54:39.340 A retired army officer, former presidential candidate, with a following 1217 00:54:39.559 --> 00:54:40.860 among anti-government groups. 1218 00:54:42.059 --> 00:54:42.440 Offered easy. 1219 00:54:42.519 --> 00:54:44.460 Anybody could be a former presidential candidate. 1220 00:54:44.480 --> 00:54:45.880 He was like, I'll offer to help, he said. 1221 00:54:46.690 --> 00:54:49.389 He was joined by a retired Phoenix cop, Jack McLam, 1222 00:54:49.769 --> 00:54:53.429 and then later by Jackie Brown, a family friend. Unlike 1223 00:54:53.449 --> 00:54:55.679 the voices coming through the loudspeakers, these were people Randy 1224 00:54:55.719 --> 00:54:59.179 recognized and he believed might understand him. Grits, he climbed 1225 00:54:59.219 --> 00:55:01.559 toward the cabin without a gun and began talking face 1226 00:55:01.579 --> 00:55:05.179 to face. 28th of August, Randy finally told him that 1227 00:55:05.219 --> 00:55:07.619 Vicki had been killed. That is the first time the 1228 00:55:07.679 --> 00:55:11.090 FBI learned. with certainty that a sniper's bullet had struck 1229 00:55:11.489 --> 00:55:15.869 an innocent person. Negotiating continued while Gritz carried messages between 1230 00:55:15.909 --> 00:55:20.389 Randy and the commanders below. Harris needed treatment first. By then, 1231 00:55:20.429 --> 00:55:22.289 his wound had become so faint that he had reportedly 1232 00:55:22.329 --> 00:55:23.789 asked Randy, Just kill him. 1233 00:55:24.389 --> 00:55:25.329 Please kill me, buddy. 1234 00:55:25.349 --> 00:55:28.269 I don't want to remain trapped and suffer and die 1235 00:55:28.489 --> 00:55:32.639 or go to jail. Gritz and McLam convinced him that 1236 00:55:32.659 --> 00:55:34.880 the surrender did not mean that he would be executed 1237 00:55:34.960 --> 00:55:35.860 once he reached the agent's. 1238 00:55:37.639 --> 00:55:38.599 I hope not. Right. 1239 00:55:39.099 --> 00:55:41.300 August 30th, Harris was carried down the mountain on a 1240 00:55:41.320 --> 00:55:44.099 stretcher and flown to a hospital in Spokane. Vicki's body 1241 00:55:44.300 --> 00:55:46.820 removed as well, ending more than a week in which 1242 00:55:46.860 --> 00:55:48.860 her children had

lived within feet of her remains. 1243 00:55:48.880 --> 00:55:51.280 That's crazy. After like two days. 1244 00:55:51.860 --> 00:55:54.019 Randy still feared that he would be shot or that 1245 00:55:54.039 --> 00:55:57.449 the government would take his daughters away. Sarah became central 1246 00:55:57.489 --> 00:56:00.250 to the final decision. Grits worked out terms meant to 1247 00:56:00.289 --> 00:56:02.829 assure the family that everyone would come down safely and 1248 00:56:02.849 --> 00:56:04.889 that the children would be replaced with relatives rather than 1249 00:56:04.949 --> 00:56:08.980 treated as prisoners. 31st of August, Randy stepped away from 1250 00:56:09.000 --> 00:56:10.760 the cabin carrying a 10-month-old Alicia. 1251 00:56:10.800 --> 00:56:16.099 Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. Older like Simba. 1252 00:56:16.920 --> 00:56:20.099 Sarah, 10-year-old Rachel, walked behind him with Grits and McLam. 1253 00:56:20.119 --> 00:56:20.619 Beside him, man. 1254 00:56:20.920 --> 00:56:21.099 Right. 1255 00:56:22.099 --> 00:56:25.559 Walked beside them with Grits and McLam. Snipers watched from 1256 00:56:25.599 --> 00:56:29.090 the trees. Agents waited below. The crowd outside the barricades 1257 00:56:29.130 --> 00:56:31.969 fell quiet as the remaining Weavers reached the Federal line 1258 00:56:32.170 --> 00:56:36.670 without another shot fired. Randy arrested immediately and flown to Boise. 1259 00:56:37.369 --> 00:56:39.670 Harris remained under guard and at the hospital. 1260 00:56:39.809 --> 00:56:40.389 What did he do? 1261 00:56:40.409 --> 00:56:42.570 Well, he did shoot. 1262 00:56:42.750 --> 00:56:43.610 He did kill the guy. 1263 00:56:44.610 --> 00:56:46.389 While the three girls were released to relatives. 1264 00:56:47.449 --> 00:56:50.170 After 11 days, the mountain held the bodies of a mother, 1265 00:56:51.050 --> 00:56:54.960 her son, and a deputy marshal. But no hostages and 1266 00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:58.000 no fortress filled with tunnels or explosives were ever found. 1267 00:56:58.860 --> 00:57:01.820 The government, they now had Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris 1268 00:57:01.840 --> 00:57:02.300 in custody. 1269 00:57:02.860 --> 00:57:04.889 And they were like, Okay, so they didn't do what 1270 00:57:04.909 --> 00:57:07.579 you guys are saying. Right. Just normal fucking mountain men. 1271 00:57:08.599 --> 00:57:11.019 Prosecutors began building a case that blamed them for nearly 1272 00:57:11.219 --> 00:57:12.199 everything that happened. 1273 00:57:12.619 --> 00:57:13.420 They had to do something. 1274 00:57:14.159 --> 00:57:17.239 Once that case reached the courtroom, the agents, the reports, 1275 00:57:17.980 --> 00:57:20.860 the shootings, the missing pieces of evidence would no longer 1276 00:57:20.880 --> 00:57:22.920 be protected by the woods around Ruby Ridge. 1277 00:57:24.579 --> 00:57:27.139 That federal case that reached Boise in April of 1993 1278 00:57:27.139 --> 00:57:30.519 went far beyond the two shotguns and miscourt date. Randy 1279 00:57:30.539 --> 00:57:34.090 and Harris, they faced 10 counts involving conspiracy. murder, assault, 1280 00:57:34.380 --> 00:57:37.860 resistant arrest, gun violations, and crimes committed while Randy was 1281 00:57:37.920 --> 00:57:38.500 free on bail. 1282 00:57:38.820 --> 00:57:39.099 Wow. 1283 00:57:39.659 --> 00:57:42.059 Prosecutors argued the Weavers had been preparing for war against 1284 00:57:42.099 --> 00:57:45.139 the government for years. That confrontation in the woods was 1285 00:57:45.159 --> 00:57:46.159 the result of that plan. 1286 00:57:46.380 --> 00:57:48.780 Well, they were, but I don't think they were preparing 1287 00:57:48.800 --> 00:57:53.320 to initiate the war. They really didn't. Right. 1288 00:57:54.079 --> 00:57:56.119 Harris, he was accused of murdering Deegan while Randy, he 1289 00:57:56.139 --> 00:57:59.010 was held responsible through the alleged conspiracy, even though he 1290 00:57:59.070 --> 00:58:01.110 never even fired the fatal shot or any shot, I 1291 00:58:01.110 --> 00:58:01.369 don't think. 1292 00:58:01.389 --> 00:58:01.489 Right. 1293 00:58:02.510 --> 00:58:05.989 Gary Spence represented Randy, and David Nevin, he took Harris' case. 1294 00:58:06.829 --> 00:58:08.769 Neither lawyer had to convince the jury that Randy's beliefs 1295 00:58:08.789 --> 00:58:13.150 were admirable. Spence openly rejected his racism and religious extremism. 1296 00:58:13.989 --> 00:58:15.849 His argument was that ugly beliefs did not give the 1297 00:58:15.889 --> 00:58:19.469 government permission to manufacture evidence, hide mistakes, or shoot people 1298 00:58:19.489 --> 00:58:23.099 without cause. As the trial continued, the prosecution's clean version 1299 00:58:23.119 --> 00:58:24.460 of Ruby Ridge began breaking apart. 1300 00:58:25.019 --> 00:58:26.280 Almost instantly, I bet, dude. 1301 00:58:26.599 --> 00:58:29.309 Witnesses contradicted one another about who fired first at the Y. 1302 00:58:30.079 --> 00:58:32.360 The gun evidence could not prove the government's timeline, and 1303 00:58:32.400 --> 00:58:34.469 its own expert pointed toward Cooper as the person who 1304 00:58:34.510 --> 00:58:36.150 fired the fatal bullet into Sammy's back. 1305 00:58:36.210 --> 00:58:36.550 Yep. 1306 00:58:37.750 --> 00:58:40.030 The claim that the Weavers had shot at the television helicopter, 1307 00:58:40.050 --> 00:58:42.289 they fell apart when evidence showed no shots had fired. 1308 00:58:43.349 --> 00:58:46.780 Fadley's testimony exposed unanswered questions about who first suggested cutting 1309 00:58:46.800 --> 00:58:49.559 down the shotguns, and how his payment as an informant worked. 1310 00:58:50.539 --> 00:58:52.960 You only get paid if you provide a solution. Exactly. 1311 00:58:53.599 --> 00:58:56.659 FBI reports and interview notes were produced late, sometimes only 1312 00:58:56.719 --> 00:59:00.739 after witnesses had already testified. Shh. Judge Edward Lodge, he

1313 00:59:00.780 --> 00:59:04.170 repeatedly criticized the government for mishandling evidence and ignoring court orders. 1314 00:59:04.210 --> 00:59:07.650 You guys are supposed to be the tip-top at this shit. Then, Horiyuchi, 1315 00:59:07.670 --> 00:59:09.329 he took a stand with the cabin door sitting in 1316 00:59:09.349 --> 00:59:13.829 the courtroom. Well, damn. Under questioning, he admitted firing at 1317 00:59:13.849 --> 00:59:16.269 Harris and Harris ran for cover, knowing the open door 1318 00:59:16.349 --> 00:59:19.199 could hide someone. The jury, they could see the bullet 1319 00:59:19.239 --> 00:59:21.510 hole and hear how the round passed through Vicki before 1320 00:59:21.570 --> 00:59:25.139 striking its intended target. By the time the prosecution rested, 1321 00:59:25.280 --> 00:59:27.219 Spence believed the government had done more damage to its 1322 00:59:27.260 --> 00:59:28.920 own case than any defense witness could. 1323 00:59:28.960 --> 00:59:35.369 You ain't fucking kidding. Right. Anybody could have defended this case, probably. Well, 1324 00:59:36.769 --> 00:59:38.250 pretty much. Probably. Right. 1325 00:59:39.309 --> 00:59:41.269 He called nobody on the witness stand. 1326 00:59:41.289 --> 00:59:43.469 Why? He just let these guys talk. Right. 1327 00:59:44.050 --> 00:59:46.750 Nevin, he presented Harris' shooting of Deegan as self-defense and 1328 00:59:46.789 --> 00:59:49.849 the defense of Sammy, arguing that Harris fired only after 1329 00:59:49.889 --> 00:59:51.909 the camouflaged men killed the dog and shot the boy. 1330 00:59:52.050 --> 00:59:54.690 And plus, you can't charge him with killing a federal 1331 00:59:54.730 --> 00:59:56.730 agent because, I mean, I guess you could try, but 1332 00:59:56.809 --> 00:59:57.289 they didn't know. 1333 00:59:57.389 --> 00:59:58.309 He didn't identify him. 1334 00:59:58.369 --> 00:59:58.570 Right. 1335 00:59:58.750 --> 00:59:58.929 Right. 1336 00:59:59.940 --> 01:00:04.090 July 8th, the jury rejected nearly the entire prosecution. Harris 1337 01:00:04.130 --> 01:00:05.710 was acquitted of every single charge. 1338 01:00:05.730 --> 01:00:06.210 I bet. 1339 01:00:06.630 --> 01:00:09.230 Randy was cleared of the murder, conspiracy assault, resistant arrest, 1340 01:00:09.269 --> 01:00:10.550 and the original gun violations. 1341 01:00:10.630 --> 01:00:11.050 Oh, shit. 1342 01:00:11.369 --> 01:00:13.349 The jury did find him guilty, only a failing to 1343 01:00:13.409 --> 01:00:15.250 appear and commit an offense while on release. 1344 01:00:15.269 --> 01:00:18.570 There you go. Lodge later threw out the second conviction. Yeah. 1345 01:00:18.719 --> 01:00:20.920 Leaving the missed court appearance as the only count that survived. 1346 01:00:21.099 --> 01:00:21.320 Right. 1347 01:00:21.800 --> 01:00:23.800 Randy, he received 18 months in jail. Really? 1348 01:00:24.559 --> 01:00:27.400 There. Oh, come on. Yeah, that's fucked up. 1349 01:00:27.440 --> 01:00:28.679 We're missing a court date, bros. 1350 01:00:29.630 --> 01:00:30.550 And a $ 10, 000 fine. 1351 01:00:31.150 --> 01:00:32.590 But he already served most of that time and was 1352 01:00:32.630 --> 01:00:34.570 released in December of 93. Look at that shit. 1353 01:00:35.409 --> 01:00:36.659 It's time for Christmas. Right. 1354 01:00:36.880 --> 01:00:38.340 Well, happy Christmas, huh? 1355 01:00:38.420 --> 01:00:38.699 Right. 1356 01:00:39.039 --> 01:00:41.119 The verdict did not end Ruby Ridge, though. It moved 1357 01:00:41.139 --> 01:00:43.099 the investigation from the people inside the cabin to the 1358 01:00:43.159 --> 01:00:44.050 agency surrounding it. 1359 01:00:44.400 --> 01:00:46.800 Now they can file wrongful deaths and all that good thing. 1360 01:00:47.840 --> 01:00:50.619 A Justice Department task force spent months reviewing the ATF case, 1361 01:00:50.739 --> 01:00:54.500 the Marshal Service operation, the sniper rules, the shootings, the prosecution, 1362 01:00:54.860 --> 01:00:57.500 and the handling of its evidence. Its 542-page report found 1363 01:00:57.519 --> 01:01:01.239 no proof The marshals went up to the mountain planning 1364 01:01:01.280 --> 01:01:02.480 an ambush, but never said they did. 1365 01:01:02.559 --> 01:01:02.820 Right. 1366 01:01:03.019 --> 01:01:05.050 And no proof that Sammy had been deliberately targeted. 1367 01:01:05.070 --> 01:01:05.719 Didn't say he was. 1368 01:01:05.780 --> 01:01:06.050 Right. 1369 01:01:06.690 --> 01:01:09.289 Also found that prosecutors had made the arrest harder, that 1370 01:01:09.309 --> 01:01:12.489 the FBI special shooting rules violated normal policy, and that 1371 01:01:12.530 --> 01:01:15.650 Horiuchi's second shot did not meet the legal standard for 1372 01:01:15.670 --> 01:01:16.190 deadly force. 1373 01:01:16.230 --> 01:01:16.469 Nope. 1374 01:01:17.409 --> 01:01:20.389 Senate hearings they followed in 1995, placing agents and senior 1375 01:01:20.409 --> 01:01:22.989 officials before cameras to answer for decisions that had once 1376 01:01:23.050 --> 01:01:29.449 remained inside private reports. FBI Director Louis Freer. He admitted 1377 01:01:29.489 --> 01:01:31.750 that Ruby Ridge had been a series of terribly flawed 1378 01:01:31.809 --> 01:01:35.750 operations and said much of the criticism was justified. Twelve 1379 01:01:35.869 --> 01:01:38.949 FBI employees received some form of punishment or official criticism, 1380 01:01:39.570 --> 01:01:42.329 although Horiyuchi was not disciplined for killing Vicki, of course. 1381 01:01:43.130 --> 01:01:46.170 The damage to the FBI grew worse when E. Michael Cahill, 1382 01:01:47.030 --> 01:01:49.469 as a senior official, he admitted ordering the destruction of 1383 01:01:49.510 --> 01:01:52.010 an internal report critical of the Bureau's actions and then 1384 01:01:52.090 --> 01:01:56.739 lying about it. He pleaded guilty of obstruction of justice 1385 01:01:56.760 --> 01:01:58.260 and received 18 months in federal prison. 1386

01:01:58.260 --> 01:01:59.800 18 months, that's it? 1387 01:01:59.980 --> 01:02:02.219 He got 18 months for that, but Randy Weaver got 1388 01:02:02.219 --> 01:02:03.639 18 months for fucking failing to appear. 1389 01:02:03.659 --> 01:02:07.579 Right. Are you fucking kidding me? Holy shit. 1390 01:02:09.079 --> 01:02:11.840 The Weavers, they did file a wrongful death suit, and 1391 01:02:11.909 --> 01:02:13.949 in 1995, the government agreed to pay $ 1 million to 1392 01:02:14.389 --> 01:02:16.329 each of Randy's three surviving daughters and $ 100, 000 to Randy. 1393 01:02:16.550 --> 01:02:17.469 There you go. 1394 01:02:18.070 --> 01:02:20.570 The settlement included no former admission of wrongdoing, though. 1395 01:02:20.630 --> 01:02:23.309 Whatever. Harris, he later received $ 380, 000. 1396 01:02:22.909 --> 01:02:26.650 Damn right. Idaho, they tried to bring the one criminal 1397 01:02:26.670 --> 01:02:30.510 case that federal prosecutors had declined, though. In 1997, Boundary 1398 01:02:30.530 --> 01:02:35.420 County Prosecutor Denise Woodbury, she charged Horiuchi with involuntary manslaughter 1399 01:02:35.440 --> 01:02:37.900 for firing through the doorway before determining who stood behind it. 1400 01:02:38.000 --> 01:02:39.300 I don't think you can, though. I don't think I 1401 01:02:39.300 --> 01:02:39.840 have immunity. 1402 01:02:40.260 --> 01:02:45.280 It's different because federal and state are different. This case, though, 1403 01:02:45.340 --> 01:02:47.699 was moved into federal court and dismissed on the grounds 1404 01:02:47.719 --> 01:02:49.860 that Horiuchi was protected for actions taken. 1405 01:02:49.639 --> 01:02:51.300 As a federal agent. Yeah, that sucks. 1406 01:02:51.920 --> 01:02:53.980 An appeals court later ruled that enough facts were disputed 1407 01:02:54.019 --> 01:02:56.519 for the case to continue, but a new county prosecutor 1408 01:02:56.559 --> 01:02:59.079 dropped it in 2001, I bet. Uh-huh. Saying too much 1409 01:02:59.119 --> 01:03:02.320 time had passed and a conviction was unlikely anyways. In 1410 01:03:02.360 --> 01:03:04.860 the end, nobody was ever convicted for the deaths of Vicki, Sammy, 1411 01:03:04.940 --> 01:03:05.699 or William Deegan. 1412 01:03:05.780 --> 01:03:06.420 That's fucked up. 1413 01:03:07.900 --> 01:03:08.760 William Deegan won. 1414 01:03:09.059 --> 01:03:09.380 Right. 1415 01:03:10.420 --> 01:03:12.619 Ruby Ridge became a rallying cry for the growing militia 1416 01:03:12.639 --> 01:03:13.949 and anti-government movements of the 90s. 1417 01:03:13.960 --> 01:03:14.800 It did. 1418 01:03:14.920 --> 01:03:17.260 Especially after the siege at Waco the very following year 1419 01:03:17.280 --> 01:03:20.079 with much of the same people. Timothy McVeigh, he later 1420 01:03:20.139 --> 01:03:22.320 pointed to both events when explaining the anger behind the 1421 01:03:22.360 --> 01:03:23.199 Oklahoma City bombing. 1422 01:03:23.239 --> 01:03:23.559 I mean. 1423 01:03:23.940 --> 01:03:25.619 Though that act belonged to McVeigh and not to the 1424 01:03:25.639 --> 01:03:29.409 Weaver family, no shit. But McVeigh, didn't he go down 1425 01:03:29.449 --> 01:03:30.650 to Waco? I'm pretty sure he did. 1426 01:03:31.070 --> 01:03:31.329 Maybe. 1427 01:03:31.769 --> 01:03:33.989 Randy was not an innocent man who dragged into trouble 1428 01:03:34.050 --> 01:03:36.699 without making choices of his own. Obviously, he sold illegal guns, 1429 01:03:37.079 --> 01:03:39.719 refused to appear once he knew he was wanted, filled 1430 01:03:39.760 --> 01:03:42.840 his children with fear, kept them armed inside a confrontation, 1431 01:03:42.900 --> 01:03:44.719 and repeatedly chose resistance over surrender. 1432 01:03:44.739 --> 01:03:50.329 They're just brainwashed somehow. I don't know. Something just clicked, 1433 01:03:50.369 --> 01:03:52.809 especially with her. And you know, he probably loved her 1434 01:03:52.849 --> 01:03:56.079 to death, so. Whatever she, his wife said, Vicky. 1435 01:03:56.320 --> 01:03:58.590 All that reading, that junk, man. 1436 01:03:59.250 --> 01:04:02.909 And then going to those stupid fucking Aryan Brotherhood meetings. 1437 01:04:02.949 --> 01:04:03.630 That's even worse. 1438 01:04:04.530 --> 01:04:07.090 But, though, none of that turned Vicky into a threat, obviously. 1439 01:04:07.530 --> 01:04:09.469 Justified shooting Harris through a doorway, either. 1440 01:04:09.860 --> 01:04:10.010 No. 1441 01:04:10.219 --> 01:04:13.280 Or excused building a massive conspiracy case from rumors and 1442 01:04:13.340 --> 01:04:15.079 evidence the government itself could not even defend. 1443 01:04:15.179 --> 01:04:19.440 Lies! That the own government even created, what, the ATF? Ridiculous. Jesus, Pete. 1444 01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:22.179 Ruby Ridge lasted 11 days, but it took years to 1445 01:04:22.280 --> 01:04:24.130 uncover how many chances there had been to stop it 1446 01:04:24.170 --> 01:04:24.989 before anybody died. 1447 01:04:25.030 --> 01:04:26.289 They shouldn't have even started it. 1448 01:04:27.070 --> 01:04:28.989 They were picking on a guy that was broke and 1449 01:04:29.030 --> 01:04:31.230 was going to sell some fucking guns to fucking somebody. 1450 01:04:31.570 --> 01:04:33.809 Gives a fuck. Sawed off or not. 1451 01:04:34.269 --> 01:04:36.349 By then, though, a family had been torn apart. A 1452 01:04:36.389 --> 01:04:39.309 deputy marshal was dead. The government's attempt to arrest one 1453 01:04:39.349 --> 01:04:41.659 man had created the very nightmare the Weavers had gone 1454 01:04:41.699 --> 01:04:42.739 to the mountain expecting. 1455 01:04:42.760 --> 01:04:43.840 You know what? I don't understand. 1456 01:04:43.860 --> 01:04:44.900 It made it become a reality. 1457 01:04:44.940 --> 01:04:46.780 Somebody wants a sawed-off shotgun. Why don't you just sell 1458 01:04:46.820 --> 01:04:47.519 somebody a shotgun and. 1459 01:04:47.480 --> 01:04:51.539 Be like, fucking sawed off, bud? Right. There you go. 1460 01:04:51.559 --> 01:04:54.980 I'm not going to do it for you. I don't 1461 01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:57.880 have a hacksaw. That's true. 1462 01:04:58.360 --> 01:05:00.199 Here's a shotgun. Saw it. 1463 01:05:00.320 --> 01:05:03.159 Right. I'll do it. Instead of doing a perfectly legal 1464 01:05:03.199 --> 01:05:06.719 fucking transaction. Jeez. Oh, man. 1465 01:05:07.500 --> 01:05:11.840 Well, one of the most corrupt things that ever happened 1466 01:05:11.960 --> 01:05:14.659 in law enforcement history right there, boys. 1467 01:05:15.219 --> 01:05:17.400 Crazy. Terrible. Terrible. 1468 01:05:17.460 --> 01:05:20.139 And then We'll get to Waco later on down the 1469 01:05:20.159 --> 01:05:23.719 line here again. And that was even more worse than this. 1470 01:05:23.820 --> 01:05:25.000 You'd think they would have. 1471 01:05:25.019 --> 01:05:32.699 And speaking of how they mentioned the negotiators, the negotiators 1472 01:05:32.739 --> 01:05:35.619 for Waco were even more fucking dumb. 1473 01:05:35.639 --> 01:05:36.739 It was worse. Yeah. 1474 01:05:36.980 --> 01:05:39.420 We'll get there. But with that, if you're listening on podcast, 1475 01:05:39.460 --> 01:05:41.030 make sure you're giving us a like, sharing us with 1476 01:05:41.050 --> 01:05:43.969 your friends, commenting. If you're listening on YouTube, make sure 1477 01:05:44.010 --> 01:05:46.269 you're hitting that. Bell, so you know when we're going 1478 01:05:46.329 --> 01:05:47.630 live and releasing new episodes. 1479 01:05:47.650 --> 01:05:51.469 You know, the FBI handles itself pretty well because for 1480 01:05:51.570 --> 01:05:52.369 decades they've. 1481 01:05:52.230 --> 01:05:55.380 Been dealing with shit like this. They seem to get 1482 01:05:55.400 --> 01:05:55.800 away with it. 1483 01:05:56.320 --> 01:05:59.320 Seems like at least once every decade, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 1484 01:05:59.480 --> 01:06:04.599 something stupid happened. 1485 01:06:04.900 --> 01:06:06.380 Well, in the 30s, it was like several. 1486 01:06:06.659 --> 01:06:06.980 Right. 1487 01:06:07.820 --> 01:06:09.760 They were shooting people and doing all sorts of shit. 1488 01:06:09.940 --> 01:06:10.420 Insane. 1489 01:06:10.480 --> 01:06:10.860 Yeah. 1490 01:06:11.719 --> 01:06:11.880 Yeah. 1491 01:06:14.690 --> 01:06:17.400 Anything else to add before I inevitably try to do 1492 01:06:17.420 --> 01:06:19.039 the closing and you interrupt. 1493 01:06:18.659 --> 01:06:19.320 Me once again? 1494 01:06:19.340 --> 01:06:20.500 That's it, man. 1495 01:06:20.539 --> 01:06:21.590 All right, well, we'll see you next week. 1496 01:06:21.619 --> 01:06:22.340 Oh, wait, no way. 1497 01:06:22.349 --> 01:06:23.329 The Gunslingers. 1498 01:06:23.389 --> 01:06:24.190 We'll see you then.