The FBI surrounded the remaining four occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in rural Oregon Wednesday night, and during an audio-only broadcast streamed live on YouTube, the occupiers said they would turn themselves in Thursday morning.
A man named Gavin Seim started the live stream via a phone call with David Fry, an outspoken occupant who claims he and three others are simply camping on public land.
Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore joined the livestream over the phone with the occupiers, trying to talk them into surrendering peacefully. She left Portland International Airport in the evening and was currently driving to Burns with Mike Arnold, an attorney for Ammon Bundy who led the occupation until his arrest Jan. 26. Fiore continued to speak to the occupiers via phone while she drove toward Burns and the refuge. She had been in Portland earlier in the day to show support for Ammon Bundy.
Over the livestream, Fiore told the occupiers that she had assurances from the FBI that the agency would not make a move and escalate the situation overnight until she and Rev. Franklin Graham arrived. Occupiers indicated they would be willing to turn themselves in Thursday morning under certain conditions, including having the media present and meeting with Fiore and Graham.
But it has not been independently confirmed that Graham will be present, and the terms of surrender have not been independently confirmed with the FBI.
"Keep your fingers crossed that cooler heads prevail," Arnold told KATU late Wednesday.
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Occupier Sean Anderson said late Wednesday he spoke with the FBI and that he and the three other holdouts would turn themselves in at a nearby FBI checkpoint at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Anderson relayed the news to Fiore.
"We're not surrendering, we're turning ourselves in. It's going against everything we believe in," he said.
The group prayed several times during the broadcast, asking for protection.
Fry, along with Jeff Banta and married couple Sandy and Sean Anderson, have remained at the refuge following the arrest of Ammon Bundy and other leaders.
The FBI was heard using a loud speaker directing them to surrender.
"If we surrender, then we go to jail, we'll never see the light of day again," Sandy said. "I'm not afraid .. I'm more pissed than I am scared, because they shouldn't be doing this, they promised they wouldn't."
"You start killing us, then you're [expletive]," one of the men screamed, presumably at agents surrounding them. "You have no idea what courage is!"
Around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, FBI investigators said one of the occupiers rode an ATV outside the established barricades.
FBI agents tried to approach to driver, who then returned to the encampment at the refuge at a high speed, officials said.
"It has never been the FBI's desire to engage these armed occupiers in any way other than through dialogue, and to that end, the FBI has negotiated with patience and restraint in an effort to resolve the situation peacefully. However, we reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney County who live and work in this area," Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon Greg Bretzing said.
The group urged listeners of the live stream to call legislators, the FBI and Harney County Sheriff's Office.
Fry has said the group wants assurances they won't be arrested, and is demanding pardons for everyone involved.
Wednesday marks the 40th day of the occupation.
Bundy and about three dozen other individuals occupied the wildlife refuge Jan. 2 after two local ranchers, the Hammonds, were sent to prison for setting fires on federal land.
The Hammonds served no more than a year until an appeals court judge ruled that the terms fell short of minimum sentences requiring them to serve about four more years.
Bundy, the self-proclaimed leader of Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, occupied the refuge to protest federal land restrictions. He had said he prayed about the matter and "clearly understood that the Lord was not pleased with what was happening to the Hammonds."
The Associated Press contributed.
