Oregon militia standoff: dramatic final surrender at wildlife refuge – as it happened

• The 41-day armed occupation at the Malheur national wildlife refuge ended this morning when the final four protesters surrendered after a dramatic standoff with FBI agents.
• Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was arrested in Portland and has been charged with six federal crimes stemming from his confrontation with the federal government in 2014.
• Nine more Oregon militia members were charged today, meaning 25 people total are now accused in a federal conspiracy case. Two of them were still at large as of this afternoon.
• Officials are now investigating the “crime scene” at the wildlife sanctuary and plan to begin efforts to “repair damages” caused by the occupation.

Harney County judge Steve Grasty, who repeatedly urged the militia to go home throughout the occupation, is still hoping to find a way to force the arrested protesters to cover the costs of the standoff.

In a phone interview Thursday afternoon, Grasty said that he calculated that the first month of the standoff, which began 2 January, cost Harney County roughly $236,300 – largely for law enforcement wage costs and expenses for various materials. Additionally, the town of Burns in January spent around $30,000, and the neighboring town of Hines spent nearly $25,000, he estimated.

Local schools also had to shut down for a week at the start of the occupation, which created further government costs, he said.

Grasty said it would take some time to calculate total costs over the 41 days of the standoff and that he is still researching legal mechanisms available to compel the protesters to pay.

For now, he said, he was happy the occupation was finally over. “I’ve been getting so many texts and emails. Everybody is saying how relieved they are,” he said. “It’s time to move on.”

Cliven Bundy is suffering from blood pressure that is “quite high, dangerously so”, his public defender Ruben Iñiguez testified today in federal court in Portland.

Iñiguez said Bundy had prescription blood pressure medicine in a carry-on bag he had with him when he was arrested at the airport in Portland. Iñiguez asked the court to locate and return the medications to Bundy.

But judge Janice Stewart said the normal protocol was for the defendant to be checked out by a physician in prison and obtain any necessary medication through the doctor. Iñiguez countered that the medicines in the bag would speed up the prescription-writing process, but Stewart said she would stick with the protocol.

Bundy is facing numerous federal charges for his 2014 standoff with the government.

Federal prosecutors have continued to make arrests associated with the militia standoff across the west today. In addition to the five charges the Guardian reported on earlier this afternoon, the US attorney’s office for the district of Oregon has announced that they have charged four more people for their roles in the occupation.

Of the nine individuals who have newly been charged today, police have arrested seven of them – across six states. The justice department is not naming the two individuals who have not yet been apprehended.

The two new protesters added to the federal conspiracy case are Wesley Kjar, a 32-year-old from Utah and Eric Lee Flores, 22, of Tuallip, Washington. The other arrests announced earlier are: Blaine Cooper, 36, of Humboldt, Arizona; Corey Lequieu, 44, of Fallon, Nevada; Neil Wampler, 68, of Los Osos, California; Jason Charles Blomgren, 41, of Murphy, North Carolina and Darryl William Thorn, 31, of Marysville, Washington.

The men are scheduled to make initial appearances today and tomorrow in federal courts in six different states. Like the 16 others previously indicted, they all face one felony county of conspiracy to impede officers of the US.

Leaders of the local Native American tribe – whose ancestors originally occupied the refuge land – expressed renewed fears this afternoon about potential damage to sacred artifacts stored at the wildlife sanctuary.

“Our work is just starting,” Paiute tribal councilman Cecil Dick said when asked if he was relieved that the standoff was over. “It will be a while before we get back to where we were before.”

Dick noted that before the occupation began, there were existing strains between the tribe and government officials over the artifacts’ vulnerability on public lands. “It doesn’t help to bring it all up again,” he said, with a sigh.

Weeks earlier, militia leaders published a video of several occupiers rifling through artifacts stored at the refuge headquarters.

FBI special agent Greg Bretzing said in a statement today:

In particular, we know that the people of the Burns Paiute Tribe have specific concerns about the potential desecration of their ancestral lands and artifacts dating back thousands of years. As we complete the necessary safety checks and process the crime scene, we will work with the tribal members to ensure that our work remains sensitive to their historical and cultural concerns.

In Portland this afternoon, Cliven Bundy shuffled into the courtroom looking tired, wearing a light blue prison jumpsuit and sandals – with his ankles chained together. For about 30 minutes he sat with his attorney, from the public defenders’ office, talking over the 32-page indictment, while the courtroom looked on quietly and judge Janice Stewart waited in her chambers.

After the judge arrived at around 2pm, the hearing lasted only ten minutes, during which dates were set for a detention hearing (next Tuesday at 1.30pm) and a preliminary hearing (Friday at 1.30pm).

The judge also strongly urged the outspoken Bundy not to talk about the case with anyone aside from his attorney. Asked whether he understood, Bundy mumbled, “yes.”

It was the only word he said before the court in the first day of hearings.

The judge also said the court would need to determine whether he had the finances to pay for his own attorney or be allowed to continue with a court-appointed one.

For details on the charges and history of the standoff, read Guardian reporter Julia Carrie Wong’s piece on the criminal complaint.

Bretzing, FBI special agent, acknowledged the unique nature of this armed standoff unfolding on live YouTube streams over the last day.

“We’ve discussed this quite frequently,” he said. “Law enforcement is continually changing as is the social media environment, technology, and yes, we’ve had instances like this in the past and we’ll likely have many more in the future.”

He said the FBI would continue to “revise our techniques” in response to changes in social media trends.

Bretzing said he was looking forward to seeing the local community heal: “Over the course of the last month, the people of Harney County have lived through an experience that is both emotionally exhausting and physically trying,” he said. “We have seen the confusion, concern and trouble that the occupiers’ actions have caused for this community.”

Harney County sheriff Dave Ward is offering a very emotional speech now. “I’m proud of this community. I’m proud of my friends and neighbors. I’m proud of the way you stood up to this stuff,” he said. “It’s torn our community apart. I see it tearing our country apart. But right now we have the opportunity as people in this great nation … to come out and work through our differences and start getting things back together.”

Ward said: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He added a plea to the community toward the end of his remarks: “Get off of Facebook and talk to each other in person.”

Greg Bretzing, FBI special agent in charge in Oregon, is outlining federal officials’ plans moving forward at a press conference in Burns now.

He said that the Malheur national wildlife refuge will remain closed for weeks and that law enforcement plans to search the “crime scene” to ensure that no other protesters remain in the federal buildings. FBI special agent bomb technicians will also analyze the scene to be sure there are no explosives.

The FBI further has an “art crime team” that will work to investigate any damage to artifacts of the Burns Paiute tribe, which is the local Native American tribe. “These agents are specially-trained in cultural property investigations,” he said.

My colleague Sam Levin’s latest piece details the entire extraordinary end. Levin has been one of the main reporters closely following the occupation at the Malheur refuge.

The 41-day occupation of the federal complex in rural Harney County built to an intense crescendo when the last remaining protester, David Fry, a 27-year-old from Ohio, was persuaded to abandon talk of violence and suicide to emerge from the refuge and hand himself over amid shouts of “hallelujah”.

A continual YouTube live-stream of phone calls with the remaining occupants provided an unprecedented window into the occupiers’ deliberations, amid fraught and sometimes panicked discussions over the final 18 hours of the standoff.

From the start, the heavily armed militia said the occupation could last for “several years”, with some saying they were willing to die for the cause.

Federal prosecutors have filed conspiracy charges against five additional men involved in the standoff, according to court filings that were just unsealed.

The men named in a new indictment are Blaine Cooper, Corey Lequieu, Neil Wampler, Jason Charles Blomgren and Darryl William Thorn.

They are all facing the same charge that prosecutors have filed against the 16 others arrested activists, which is “conspiracy to impede officers of the US” by “force, intimidation and threats”. If convicted, they could face up to six years in prison.

Cooper was a high-profile, vocal militia leader from Arizona, who disappeared from public view when the FBI began making arrests two weeks ago. His wife Melissa was one of the main cooks for the occupiers.

Lequieu, from Fallon, Nevada, was also a regular presence at the refuge. He recently told the Guardian that he left the occupation during the chaotic period after police killed militia spokesman LaVoy Finicum.

Wampler also spoke to the Guardian at the very start of the occupation, noting that he participated in Cliven Bundy’s 2014 standoff. The Oregonian later reported that Wampler, a retired California woodworker, had previously been convicted of second-degree murder.

The line of mostly reporters – and the anticipation – is building outside the courtroom where Cliven Bundy will appear in less than 20 minutes. The courtroom appears to be a larger one than the cramped room Bundy’s sons and their followers appeared in a couple weeks ago after being arrested. Federal Protective Services officers and a rather excited, young German Shepherd are checking the courtroom and hanging around the lobby. For now, all it’s quiet on the street outside the courthouse.

Conrad Wilson, a reporter at Oregon Public Broadcasting, who was among the first on the scenes this morning, tells us that the four arrested occupiers are being held at Burns Municipal Airport, the location of the FBI’s makeshift headquarters in the area.

Earlier Conrad saw a long convoy of SUVs and Oregon State Troopers emerge from the refuge and drive through a checkpoint.

11 Feb 201615.12 EST

Paul Lewis

The FBI has called a press conference for 2pm Pacific time (that’s in about two hours). Around the same time Cliven Bundy, the 69-year-old spiritual leader of the ultra-conservative federal lands movement, will appear in court 300 miles north, in Portland.

We’ll bring you all the updates from both.

After 41 days, the armed occupation of a remote federal wildlife refuge is over. But a new, more prolonged battle will now commence in the courts. Bundy, his two sons (Ammon and Ryan), and the four final holdouts who surrendered today are among the 16 people associated with the occupation now in custody and awaiting trial. They intend to use their idiosyncratic reading of the US Constitution to challenge the government’s case.

If they lose, they face significant jail time. As Sam Levin has written, FBI and federal prosecutors have deliberately targeted the occupation’s leaders with a broad charge sheet that encompasses numerous offenses.

FBI officials and federal prosecutors have released a statement about the end of the standoff, noting that no one was injured and no shots were fired during the final arrests on the 41st day of the occupation. The four holdouts will face an arraignment in federal court on Friday.

A total of 16 people associated with the occupation are facing federal conspiracy charges.

Billy Williams, US attorney for the district of Oregon, said in a statement:

The occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge has been a long and traumatic episode for the citizens of Harney County and the members of the Burns Paiute tribe. It is a time for healing, reconciliation amongst neighbors and friends, and allowing for life to get back to normal. I want to thank our neighbors in eastern Oregon for their patience, resolve, and their kind and welcoming spirit to the many members of federal, county, state, local, and tribal law enforcement who have worked tirelessly to bring this illegal occupation to a conclusion. The fine work of so many dedicated public servants in a difficult endeavor cannot be understated. I am very proud of them all.

11 Feb 201614.31 EST

Julia Carrie Wong

The Guardian has received a copy of the 32-page federal complaint against Cliven Bundy, the father of the leaders of the standoff at the Malheur national wildlife refuge. He has been charged with six federal crimes stemming from his own standoff with the government in 2014.

A criminal complaint filed with the US district court of Nevada charges the Bundy patriarch with the following crimes: conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States; assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon; use and carry of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence; interference with commerce by extortion; obstruction of the administration of justice, and aiding and abetting.

He will appear in court at 1.30pm in Portland.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the Malheur national wildlife refuge, has released a statement expressing relief that the standoff is over and discussing next steps of investigating the “crime scene”.

Spokesman Jason Holm said:

We are relieved that the illegal occupation of Malheur NWR is over. While we are now able to look forward to a new beginning, there is still much that needs to be done so that the community and the larger public can be welcomed back to their refuge. We will be available, at the request of the FBI, to help in the long and painstaking job of processing the crime scene, and will be working to assess and repair damages caused by the occupation. Above all, we will begin to revitalize our deep connections in the local community and resume the dialog that has made Malheur a model of collaborative conservation.