"I agree that assault was completely overdone and mismanaged, but in the end Randy Weaver shoulders full responsibility. JMHO"
Strange outlook. So the guy who pulled the trigger and killed his wife and kid has what?
No responsibility?
The LEO further up the food chain apparently shoulders no responsibility for setting the rules of engagement?
Strange outlook. So the guy who pulled the trigger and killed his wife and kid has what?
The reality of life is that there is seldom a single cause of anything ,but several small actions coming together for either good or bad events.
Weaver was of no danger to anyone till he was surrounded and cornered. The original crime that he was eventually convicted of brought him less than a year in jail.
If they wanted to arrest him that badly they could have simply waited till he went to town and done it then.
Also that shot that Len Hourrachi (spelling) made that killed Weavers' wife was a very easy shot at that distance. When he killed her that is who he intended to kill when he pulled the trigger. I do not blame Hourrachi, he was a sniper that was following his instructions. His superiors are guilty of murder. They issued the orders and rules of engagement.
I would also like to comment that I have no admiration for either side of the conflict at Ruby Ridge.
I'm pretty sure that he was promoted, and went on to even greater glory at Waco, believe it or not, iirc from a US documentary piece on Ruby Ridge.
I do remember the robot the FBI sent with a phone to Weaver also had a shotgun attachment affixed. "It was unfortunate the we didn't take that off before we sent it up. Leaving it on might have hurt our credibility with Mr. Weaver when we were trying to negotiate..." said the ranking Senior Special Agent in Charge.
The guy, Lon Horiuchi, got away with coldblooded murder.
In 1992, while working at sniper position Sierra 4 for the FBI Hostage Rescue Team at Ruby Ridge, Horiuchi killed Vicki Weaver, and wounded her husband Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris. Vicki Weaver was behind a door – unarmed and clutching her infant daughter – when a bullet fired by Horiuchi at Kevin Harris accidentally struck her in the face.[3]
In September 1995, Horiuchi testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on the Ruby Ridge shootings; however, following advice of counsel, he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, which limited the ability of Idaho's prosecutorial team of Denise Woodbury and Stephen Yagman to build a criminal case against him.
In 1997, Horiuchi was charged in Boundary County, Idaho state court with involuntary manslaughter. Horiuchi removed the case to federal court,[citation needed] where the case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge on May 14, 1998, who cited the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution which grants immunity to Federal officers acting in the scope of their employment. This decision was reversed by an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit, which held that Horiuchi should stand trial.[4] However, shortly after the Circuit court rendered its decision, the prosecutor moved to drop the case, and the District court granted the motion on June 26, 2001.