Ruby Ridge has come to be known as the eleven day standoff between the US Marshals/federal agents and Randy Weaver’s family and friend Kevin Harris. The incident is the result of years of investigation into Weaver by local authorities, the FBI, the ATF, and Secret Service..
Randy Weaver was a college dropout and former green beret ( member of the United States Army Special Forces). Weaver and his wife, Vicki, were religious fundamentalists. They were extremely distrustful of the United States government and believed that the end of the world was imminent. Due to this intense fear the family began to hoard guns and chose to move to a secluded area to which they would be able to live off the grid. In 1984, the Weaver family moved into a cabin that they had built for themselves by Ruby Creek in Idaho.
Weaver had threatened President Ronald Reagan and other government officials (though the content of this threat is unknown). Because of this action the FBI and Secret Service opened an investigation into Weaver.
In 1989, undercover ATF agents were sold illegal sawed-off shotguns by Weaver, and Weaver was indicted for this crime. He was released on bail and his trial was set for February 1991. However, his probation officer told him the trial would not occur until the 20th of March. Due to the misinformation given by his probation officer Weaver did not show up to the February trial. When the 20th of March came around he did not appear at the trial either.
The U.S. Marshal Service planned a take-down in order to gather intelligence by surveying the terrain and the Weaver Family and ultimately to arrest Weaver. Surveryes noted how the Weavers were always armed. On August 21, 1992 the siege began. A team of Marshals prepared to survey the area to gather information. However, their plans were thwarted by the Weaver Family dogs who took note of their presence. A chase ensued, as the dogs, Sammy Weaver (Randy Weavers’ son), Randy Weaver, and Kevin Harris followed the Marshals as they tried to escape. A firefight occured between the Marshalls and The Weavers and resulted in the death of Sammy Weaver (age 14), Marshal Degan (age 42), and one of Weaver’s dogs. Nobody truly knows who shot first as the surviving parties debate the topic profusely.
After the event the Weaver family retreated to their cabin to grieve the loss of Sammy and to plan their next steps. On August 22, the FBI arrived in the area. The FBI agents believed that they were entering an active and unprovoked firefight against the U.S. Marshals. FBI snipers set up a perimeter in hopes to force Weaver to negotiate. Weaver ignored all negotiation attempts, even refusing to listen to his own sister’s pleas.
When heading to their Family shed where Sammy’s body was located, Weaver was shot (not fatally) by FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi who thought they were about to fire at a helicopter. After the shot was fired the Weaver family quickly headed back to their house. As they approached their house, Vicki, who was currently holding their infant daughter behind the front door was shot in the face by horiuchi and died instantly. Harris, a family friend, was also severely injured.
To Weaver, this event confirmed his suspicions about the federal government and he refused to give up. Howsever, on August 31st, Weaver and his daughters were escorted out of the cabin. Weaver was immediately arrested and his daughters were taken in by relatives. Weaver was only convicted for failing to appear to trail for the original weapons charge. The Weaver family and Harris both held civil suits against the government. The Weavers won and received 2.1 million dollars in August of 1995 and Harris received a 380,000 settlement in September 2000.
Sources
This was an extremely tragic incident all around. Overall, the FBI was criticized by the Justice Department for neglecting to gather adequate information on the situation and for failing to order the Weaver family to surrender before opening fire. After doing some research I discovered that Lon Horiuchi was also present at another scandalous FBI raid, the 1993 Waco Siege. Going back to this incident, an inquiry found that Horiuchi's second shot was in fact deemed unconstitutional and had actually endangered the lives of those around him unnecessarily. The State of Idaho intended to charge him with involuntary manslaughter, but the case was later removed from the federal court's jurisdiction, so he was never put on trial.
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Ruby-Ridge#ref1197110
https://libertarianinstitute.org/everything-will/lon-horiuchi-american-sniper/