LaVoy Finicum -- the Oregon militant who gained fame for conducting a television interview from beneath a blue tarp -- was shot and killed by law enforcement officers.
The Arizona rancher, who was caring for 11 foster children with his wife, vowed at the start of the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Preserve that he was willing to die for his interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
“I have been raised in the country all my life,” Finicum said in a widely viewed television interview with a rifle on his lap. “I love dearly to feel the wind on my face. To see the sun rise, to see the moon. I have no intention of spending any of my days in a concrete box.”
He was reportedly shot Tuesday evening during a shootout when law enforcement officers stopped a group of militants on their way to establish a shadow government in nearby Grant County.
State Rep. Michele Fiore (R), who is close to the Bundy family and other militants, has identified Finicum as the militant who has been reportedly killed.
Six others -- including Ammon and Ryan Bundy -- were arrested following the shootout.
Reports indicate that one other person might have been wounded in the gunfire.
Watch the interview with Finicum posted online by MSNBC:
READ MORE:
- Raw Story’s Arun Gupta caught up in same trap that snared Oregon militants
- High-profile militant Jon Ritzheimer flees home to Arizona hours before feds spring trap
- The Oregon militant leaders are captured or dead -- but anger toward the government lives on
- UPDATED: Friend and officials confirm Oregon militant Ammon Bundy's capture
Eyewitnesses knock down conspiracy theories about LaVoy Finicum dying with his hands up
