Ryan Bundy, one of the leaders of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge who was riding in Robert “LaVoy” Fincium’s car when it swerved to avoid an FBI and state police roadblock in 2016, says he’ll now undergo surgery to remove a suspected bullet fragment that became lodged in his shoulder that day.
Bundy said he was spurred to act because of his and his family’s disgust at FBI Director Kash Patel’s decision to award bravery medals to FBI agents who were at the roadblock that day, coupled with the unanswered question of who fired two shots at Finicum’s truck before state police later fatally shot Finicum once he had stepped away from his truck.
FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita was acquitted in 2018 of allegations that he lied when he denied taking two shots at Finicum’s truck just before the deadly gunfire. Investigators have never proven who took those shots. One shot hit the roof of Finicum’s pickup and another apparently missed altogether, investigators said.
During a ceremony in late July at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., Patel presented the bureau’s Shield of Bravery to Astarita and three other agents for their “courageous acts in the line of duty” at the roadblock.
The FBI erroneously described the course of events that day in a caption accompanying a photo of Astarita and three other FBI Hostage Rescue Team members standing with Patel at the awards ceremony. The caption with the photo, obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive after it had been shared internally at the FBI, said Finicum rammed his pickup into “the lead HRT vehicle,” trapping one of the team members under Finicum’s truck. That didn’t happen, according to testimony during Astarita’s trial.
“Now, in light of the FBI’s continued false narrative, Ryan Bundy will undergo surgery to have this bullet removed,” the Bundy family said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “The bullet will speak the truth, it’s past time for the FBI to do the same.”
The bullet fragment will be submitted to an independent forensic laboratory for ballistic testing, the family said.
The statement asks that the FBI and Oregon State Police “cooperate fully” with any forensic ballistics analysis to determine who fired the two shots that have remained a mystery.
Oregon’s U.S. Attorney’s office and Astarita’s lawyer, David Angeli, did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.
Federal prosecutors in Oregon previously indicated that they had copies of the X-ray of Ryan Bundy’s shoulder and in August 2017 said in court that talks were underway to try to recover the object from Bundy’s arm so government experts could analyze it as potential evidence in the case against Astarita.
But Ryan Bundy has long refused to have the metal object removed from his shoulder.
He has said he was crouched down in the back seat as Finicum’s truck veered into a snowbank off U.S. 395 to avoid the FBI and police roadblock on Jan. 26, 2016. He said he felt the shot after the truck had stopped and as Finicum was stepping out of the pickup.
When Bundy was arrested, emergency medics found him bleeding and wrapped his wound in a dressing. He was taken to Harney District Hospital, where an X-ray revealed a metal fragment next to his right shoulder bone, presumably from a gunshot. Bundy previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive the object was shaped like a bullet.
His brother Ammon Bundy had been arrested moments earlier along the highway as a two-car convoy of occupation leaders traveled from the Malheur refuge to a neighboring county for a meeting. Ammon Bundy had led armed demonstrators about a month earlier in taking over the refuge in a long-running federal land use dispute.
Finicum sped off from the traffic stop with four passengers in his truck, including Ryan Bundy. State police SWAT Lt. Casey Codding fired three shots at Finicum’s pickup as it raced toward the surprise roadblock about a mile down the road.
Finicum swerved into a snowbank to avoid running into the roadblock. Two shots rang out as he stepped out of the driver’s door with his hands in the air, according to testimony and video played at Astarita’s trial in Portland.
Local police investigators believed Astarita fired those shots but could never prove it. Astarita denied firing his rifle and he was acquitted at trial of two counts of making a false statement and one count of obstruction of justice. No one has ever taken responsibility for the shots.
Two state troopers moments later fired another three shots that killed Finicum as he walked away from his truck and reached into an interior pocket of his jacket, where investigators said he carried a loaded 9mm Ruger.
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