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At a news conference Monday, authorities said Oregon State Police's fatal shooting of one of the occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, was "justified." But now the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General is investigating possible misconduct by members of the FBI team involved in the operation.

At the news conference, authorities from two Oregon counties who led the local investigation into the shooting alleged that the FBI agents failed to disclose as many as two shots they fired at Finicum, NPR's Kirk Siegler reports. They confirmed that neither of those shots hit Finicum, but the revelation was enough to prompt the federal government to launch an internal review.

U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz issued the following statement:


The shots that killed Finicum were fired by the Oregon State Police, and the investigation into the shooting has found their use of force to be justified. The news conference also shed more light on the events immediately preceding Finicum's shooting. Oregon Public Broadcasting 

Law enforcement used a cellphone video shot by another militant, Shawna Cox — who was in Finicum's truck along with two others at the time of the confrontation — to piece together what happened after a number of the occupiers drove out of Malheur, law enforcement chased down their vehicles, and Finicum left his vehicle.

"You back down or you kill me now, go ahead, put the bullet through me," Finicum said in the video recording, which authorities showed at the press conference.

OPB reports that Finicum can also "be heard repeatedly ignoring commands from law enforcement to surrender." The cellphone video has not yet been released.

FBI special agent Greg Bretzig said, "Mr. Finicum chose to break the law, Mr. Finicum chose to put other people's lives in danger, and as the investigation shows, he chose to provoke a confrontation with law enforcement."

Crime, Law and Justice

Local authorities allege that FBI agents failed to disclose as many as two shots they fired at LaVoy Finicum, though neither shot hit him. The shots that killed Finicum were justified, officials say.

Police 'justified' in shooting Oregon militant; DOJ reviewing FBI conduct

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