Posted on 08/22/2016 6:10:48 AM PDT by HomerBohn
Randall and Vicki Weaver and their children wanted nothing more than to be left to live an isolated life in peace in their cabin enclave on a northern Idaho mountain top called Ruby Ridge. Untrusting of the federal government and of the belief society had taken an insurmountable turn for the worse, the Weavers — as many residents in the remote and breathtaking area — taught their children to be self-sufficient and defend themselves with firearms from unwanted intrusions onto the family’s property.
But the Weaver’s seemingly idyllic life came to an appallingly violent end over several hours from August 21 to 22, 1992, in a horrendously botched federal raid that would also profoundly alter perceptions about the U.S. government in the minds of even ordinary Americans.
Often afterward reported to be white supremacists, the Weavers considered themselves race “separatists” only — and intended no harm against others beyond that belief — though their stance often included the company of people with a more vehement ideology.
Regardless of the Weavers’ beliefs, the account of what federal agents perpetrated against the family under the premise of effecting law enforcement action implores Americans of every race to consider the telling outcome of untrammeled government power run amok.
In 1989, Randall “Randy” Weaver came under the scrutiny of federal agents intent on infiltrating sometimes-violent white supremacist organizations like the Aryan Nations — and eventually wound up charged for selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns to an undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms [now, also, explosives] (ATF).
Weaver, notably, claimed he had been set up — thus flatly refusing the government’s offer to drop the charges if he would turn informant, feeding the feds information about various Aryan Nations members — and was indicted in December the following year.
Though Weaver’s insistence about the set-up leaves his failure to show up for a scheduled court date in February 1991 an altogether open question, a clerical error marking that court date for March didn’t prevent authorities from issuing a warrant for his arrest.
Knowing the Weavers possessed a relative arsenal — which Randall, Vicki, and their children were well-trained how to use — agents weren’t entirely sure how to carry out the warrant and so began intense surveillance of the family’s mountain home while carefully formulating a plan of action.
During this period, Vicki reportedly penned several darkly but vaguely threatening letters to federal agents, containing phrases such as “the tyrant’s blood will flow.”
Considering the family originally relocated to their outpost over mistrust of the government coupled with Randall’s claims concerning the charges which ultimately generated the warrant, Vicki’s language is understandable.
Remember, whatever narrative about dangerous white separatists federal officials proffered about the Weaver family, Randall had only sold — under questionable circumstances — two sawed-off shotguns to a federal agent, and his failure to appear in court, for all intents and purposes, was the fault of the court clerk’s ultimately egregious error.
All in all, an isolationist family on a remote mountain hardly posed an imminent threat to anyone.
Nonetheless, federal marshals set in motion a plan in August 1992 that would send shockwaves across the country and around the world for its deadly ineptitude and wholly disproportionate use of force.
On August 21, marshals surprised Randall, his 14-year-old son Sammy, friend of the family Kevin Harrison, and the Weaver’s family dog, Striker, on a road near the family’s property. Though some of what happened next remains a matter of conjecture, the events mark a disturbing turn in the use of force for the purposes of an otherwise relatively innocuous warrant.
A fully camouflage-clad marshal shot and killed Striker — prompting Sammy to return fire at the group of marshals. Shots then rang out from both sides — in the end, both Sammy and U.S. Marshal Michael Degan lay dead. After the brief gun battle, Weaver and Harrison retreated to Ruby Ridge and marshals regrouped, bringing in FBI agents and setting up a sniper to watch movements on the property.
One of the most contentious aspects of following events concerned an abhorrently arbitrary relaxing of the FBI’s rules of engagement to handle the case.
Larry Potts headed the FBI’s criminal division and oversaw the deployment of the agency’s Hostage Rescue Team to break the standoff at Ruby Ridge — but in doing so, loosely nullified longstanding rules of engagement preventing agents from firing in anything other than self-defense. In doing so, Potts created a monstrously rogue agency capable of firing at will — and the results were expectedly disastrous.
Agents were ordered to shoot any armed man on sight — on the Weaver’s private property — and when Randall appeared with a weapon alongside his 16-year-ol daughter Sara and Harris, FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi opened fire, hitting Weaver in the arm.
Weaver, Harris, and Sara sprinted back to the safety of the cabin, but another shot from Horiuchi hit Vicki in the head, killing her as she clutched the couple’s 10-month-old daughter in her arms — but the bullet passed through her and also wounded Harris.
An incredibly tense 11-day standoff ensued, as the terrified survivors holed up in the Ruby Ridge home, but ended when mediators convinced Randall to turn himself in.
Horiuchi later claimed he had not been aware Vicki stood in the doorway when he fired the fatal shot. Though he was charged in 1997 with involuntary manslaughter for the killing of Vicki Weaver, a federal judge dismissed the charges the following year under the controversial alleged immunity of federal officers from state prosecution.
In 2001, a federal appeals court overruled that claim to immunity, stating federal officials who violate the U.S. Constitution can, indeed, be held accountable at the state level — but the Idaho prosecutor never pursued the manslaughter charge.
Randall and Harris both faced murder charges for the death of the federal marshall — but in a surprising move by an Idaho jury, all charges against them were dropped, save the original failure to appear charge against Weaver that generated the fateful warrant.
Surviving members of the Weaver family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, and in 1995, the patriarch received $100,000 and three of his daughters, $1 million each.
To this day, the grievous abuse of power fuels doubt in segments of the public about federal agencies’ ability to restrain itself in the use of unnecessary force disproportionate to putative threats.
Though the enormity of consequences of Ruby Ridge certainly echoed far into the future, the events have unfortunately sometimes been clouded by the Weaver family’s controversial ideologies. But those beliefs — as the families of countless other victims of a growing epidemic of state violence can attest — are of little consequence when the government acts with reckless impunity against a wide range of people from grossly different backgrounds.
Agents participating in and overseeing the siege of Ruby Ridge forced a sweeping internal investigation and concurrent reevaluation of policy — particularly due to the removal of imperative rules of engagement meant to protect civilians from the exact massacre that took place there.
And as is widely known, when the government receives the green light to abandon strictures protecting the public one time, it’s virtually guaranteed to happen again. As testament to this, the deadly and terroristic siege in Waco, Texas, by federal agents occurred shortly after the incident at Ruby Ridge.
On the 20th anniversary of her mother’s and brother’s murder by agents of the government, Sara Weaver poignantly recalled the harrowing details of her experience in an interview with the Associated Press — though she noted her father refuses to do the same. Losing her mother, who was indeed unarmed when she was killed, has been the most difficult aspect for Sara to come to terms with.
“We miss her terribly,” Sara lamented. “It never goes away.”
Despite the unprecedented mishandling, the payout to the surviving Weaver family, and the sh*tstorm of debate and controversy ensuing from the incident at Ruby Ridge, the government has never fully admitted any wrongdoing in the case.
No, this happened when Clinton was running for President. GHW Bush was still president until January 1993 and this happened during his watch.
Yes, and also as I recall, Weaver showed up in court more than once to fight the original charges but each time the case would get postponed because ATF wasn't ready to proceed.
He finally got disgusted and figured they were jacking him around so the next court date he didn't show. That's when they sent marshals to arrest him for the no show and things escalated. ATF probably told the marshals he was a blood thirsty armed and dangerous Nazi.
This was CLINTON’s doing.
Check your date. George the First was president.
I’ll take your word then. Waco certainly was Clinton.
If any adult male is observed with a weapon prior to the announcement, deadly force can and should be employed, if the shot can be taken without endangering any children.
And even those rules weren't enough for Lon Horiuchi when he shot Vicki Weaver through her head while she was holding her baby.
Retired overseas, I believe. Thailand or the Philippines. Sort of a smart move when you think about it.
I’m thinkin,,,
Marker
1. Weaver was entrapped by the ATF. That isn't an opinion, it's a formal jury finding.
2. The court date he was supposed to make to defend against the charge was mis-written on the letter he received, apparently by a perfectly innocent mistake on the part of the court clerk.
3. Local (Boundary County) cops actually did arrest him once for Failure To Appear, which was so bogus Weaver determined never to make himself vulnerable again.
4. The Federal Marshals were brought in after no less than 14 months of Weaver refusing to come down. Pass-off of information from the ATF guy was horribly incomplete. Weaver couldn't infiltrate the Aryan Nations because they already knew him. He argued scripture with them on a regular basis and disagreed volubly with the white supremacy part.
5. The one guy who could have cleared the thing up (in court) was the Marshal who got killed, Degan. What actually precipitated the gunfight (it wasn't much of a gunfight, actually) was Degan throwing rocks at the back yard, which was contrary to their supposedly covert camera-setting mission, which they'd just completed. The other Marshals asked him why he did that and he told them "to see what the dog will do". The dog did what Degan knew it would do, alert. That brought Sammy (13 years old) and Kevin Harris out. They actually thought they had a deer up, which is why Kevin grabbed a deer rifle. Sammy had a Ruger Mini-14.
6. My conjecture - Degan was up there to assassinate an inconvenient dog, which he did end up doing. To that end he had lugged a suppressed submachine gun along, which the other Marshals also thought somewhat strange. Problem was, Sammy shot back, turned, ran back toward the house yelling to his father. He was then shot in the arm and the back by...someone. No bullets recovered (they went right through him, he was just a little guy). Harris shot Degan, who was shooting at Sammy. One shot, chest, with a deer rifle. The armor Degan had on wouldn't stop that.
7. The FBI had not one, but eleven snipers surrounding the place, all but one of whom disregarded the outrageous rules of engagement put out by Washington. These are, after all, sworn officers of the law. The one who followed the ROE was Horiuchi, and he managed to miss both of the shots he took at around 100 yards. One got Weaver in the arm, one killed his wife in her own doorway. Holding her baby.
8. The only unwounded adult left in the place was Sarah, 16, who spent the next 11 horrible days with a rifle defending her family, feeding the kids, lying in a pool of her mother's blood.
9. The FBI negotiator insisted throughout on trying to make contact with Vicki, taunting her at one point about sharing some nice pancakes for breakfast. Vicki was, of course, dead. The effect of that stupidity on making the family surrender was pretty predictable. He later said he was "devastated" to learn the truth.
10. Randy and Kevin Harris were acquitted of all charges in a federal court, except for the one Failure to Appear charge, where the judge let Randy off with time served.
11. No formal charges or penalties were ever levied against any member of the ATF, the Federal Marshals, or the FBI. The ones the county prosecutor attempted to file against Horiuchi were quashed immediately.
The thing was an absolutely monumental cock-up and it was due to lack of professionalism and terrible communication. The Marshals allegedly wouldn't listen to the ATF guy, who tried to tell them that the Failure to Appear charge was an administrative error. The Marshals got frustrated and initiated an armed raid that got utterly out of control through their own actions and then clammed up because a 13-year-old kid was dead. The FBI was told that Weaver was a fanatical white supremacist (untrue), a PTSD Vietnam Vet (untrue) holed up in a compound with automatic weapons, mines, and booby traps (all untrue). They were told by a journalist that a Weaver had fired at a helicopter (untrue - Weaver never so much as took a shot at anyone).
It took months to dig the truth out of it and at every turn the federal government looked worse. Consequences to them? None.
For a very good and even-handed book on the topic I recommend Ruby Ridge by Jess Walter, a Spokane journalist who simply would not give up digging.
“Lon Horiuchi”
Never forget his name. May he burn in hell.
A very fair summation Bill. As you might remember, I followed this fiasco closely, and to this day a very bitter taste remains...
Thank you for the concise and accurate information on a tragic and shameful event.
Just to set that record straight, it was a firearm company in SD who had him do an ad for what were supposed to be very accurate rifles. The backlash was immediate. Horriuchi was let go and the company, iirc, went belly up.
I knew it was one of the Dakotas. I heard that the company was still in business, though.
My recollection is that *most* of the Waco stuff occurred prior to Reno gaining any control over the DoJ. One of the oddities to come out was why during the early and mid parts, why all the reporting channels were going back to the First Lady and locking the AG out as a figurehead.
Recall that Reno was the 6th desperate attempt to get an AG nominated, after the first three declined because they were offered the position only on the condition that Hillary got to pick their staff. Then came whacko Zoe Baird, which the Clintons claimed they hadn’t actually vetted, then Kimba Woods who turned out to be surprisingly not extreme so the Clintons themselves torpedoed her nomination with leaks about her and table dancing for college money (once) and that like Baird had hired an illegal immigrant (though under different circumstance).
Now they were desperate and grabbed Reno. I think she had some working relationship with one of Hillary’s siblings, IIRC.
Hillary was up to her eyeballs in Waco.
Let's start that generation with a Trump Presidency!
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