Marilynne Robinson - Richard Paul Evans - Secret Rulers of the World: The Legend of Ruby Ridge TV - Senate Judiciary report - Jamie Gorelick - History Channel online - American Experience: Ruby Ridge TV - A Noble Lie: Oklahoma City TV -
I think probably one of the important things that happened to me was growing up in Idaho in the mountains, in the woods, and having a very strong presence of the wilderness around me. That never felt like emptiness. It always felt like presence. Marilynne Robinson
If you passed me walking home from school, you probably wouldn’t even notice me. That’s because I’m just a kid like you.
I go to school like you. I get bullied like you. Unlike you, I live in Idaho. ibid.
Don’t ask me what state Idaho is in – news flash – Idaho IS a state. Richard Paul Evans, The Prisoner of Cell 25, Michael Vey
Ruby Ridge: Ruby and Vicky were conspiracy theorists … the move to the cabin was their way of opting out. Secret Rulers of the World: The Legend of Ruby Ridge, Channel 4 2001
The family locked themselves in the cabin. Nobody but the FBI and the Weavers knew Vicky had been killed. ibid.
The spinning began immediately … The media reported these allegations as fact. ibid.
The siege of Ruby Ridge lasted for ten days. ibid.
The Subcommittee is … concerned that, as Marshals investigating the Weaver case learned facts that contradicted information they previously had been provided, they did not adequately integrate their updated knowledge into their overall assessment of who Randy Weaver was or what threat he might pose. If the Marshals made any attempt to assess the credibility of the various people who gave them information about Weaver, they never recorded their assessments. Thus, rather than maintaining the Threat Source Profile as a living document, the Marshals added new reports to an ever-expanding file, and their overall assessment never really changed. These problems rendered it difficult for other law enforcement officials to assess the Weaver case accurately without the benefit of first-hand briefings from persons who had continuing involvement with him. Senate Judiciary Committee report 1996, cited Wikipedia
The assumptions of federal and some state and local law enforcement personnel about Weaver — that he was a Green Beret, that he would shoot on sight anyone who attempted to arrest him, that he had collected certain types of arms, that he had ‘booby-trapped’ and tunneled his property — exaggerated the threat he posed. Jamie Gorelick, deputy attorney general, memo 1995
In the second day of a standoff at Randy Weaver’s remote northern Idaho cabin, FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi wounds Randy Weaver, Kevin Harrison, and kills Weaver’s wife, Vicki.
Randy Weaver, a white separatist, had been targeted by the federal government after failing to appear in court to face charges related to his selling of two illegal sawed-off shotguns to an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) informant. On August 21, 1992, after a period of surveillance US marshals came upon Harrison, Weaver, Weaver’s 14-year-old son Sammy and the family dog Striker on a road near the Weaver property. A marshal shot and killed the dog, prompting Sammy to fire at the marshal. In the ensuing gun battle Sammy and US Marshal Michael Degan were shot and killed. A tense standoff ensued, and on August 22 the FBI joined the marshals besieging Ruby Ridge.
Later that day, Harris, Weaver, and his daughter, Sarah, left the cabin, allegedly for the purpose of preparing Sammy’s body for burial. FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi, waiting 200 yards away, opened fire, allegedly because he thought Harrison was armed and intending to fire on a helicopter in the vicinity. Horiuchi wounded Weaver, and the group ran to the shed where Sammy’s body was lying. When they attempted to escape back into the cabin, Horiuchi fired again, wounding Harrison as he dove through the door and killing Vicki Weaver, who was holding the door open with one hand and cradling her infant daughter with the other. Horiuchi claimed he didn’t know that Vicki Weaver was standing behind the door. Harris, Weaver, and Weaver’s three daughters surrendered nine days later.
In 1993, Weaver and Harris were acquitted by a federal court on murder, conspiracy, and other charges related to Degan’s death, but Weaver was convicted of failing to appear for trial on the firearms charge. In 1994, the two men filed federal civil rights cases against the FBI and US marshals stemming from the siege, and in 1995 the government settled Weaver’s case for $3.1 million. History channel online article ‘This Day in History’
At the time it was all shrouded in secrecy. But there were meetings at the highest levels. American Experience: Ruby Ridge, PBS 2017
I don’t know that Randy Weaver knew at the time that they moved to Ruby Ridge that they would be so close to the Aryan Nation’s compound which was just sixty miles south. But they started showing up. ibid. Stuart Wright, writer
These are people who want to be left alone. ibid.
And then Randy doesn’t show up for trial. ibid.
The assessment of Weavers made them look more like criminals and more like a family. ibid.
They just didn’t know what to do with this guy. ibid.
One of the marshals shoots and kills the dog. 14-year-old Samuel Weaver at that moment erupts and says, ‘You killed my dog, you son of a bitch,’ and opens fire … The marshals fire back killing Samuel Weaver. Of course the marshals tell a different story. ibid.
The very next day a team of ten FBI agents & hostage rescue team surround the cabin; these are snipers. ibid.
They settled for $3.1 million in damages. ibid.
Always the good soldier McVeigh revealed only one name in his chain of command – Larry Potts, assistant director of the FBI and the lead agent on the Ruby Ridge catastrophe in 1992. A Noble Lie: Oklahoma City 1995, Youtube 2011