BURNS, Ore. — The line of police SUVs and tactical rigs tucked back in the woods on a side road alarmed Robert “LaVoy” Finicum as he drove by on the highway to John Day.
“It’s a set up,” he declared to those in the pickup with him.
In less than a half-hour, Finicum would lie dead in the snow and others in the truck would be in handcuffs, held for hours on the blockaded road north of Burns.
Shawna Cox, 59, a mother of 13 from Utah, was one of those in the truck with Finicum.
In an interview Friday with The Oregonian/OregonLive, Cox provided new details about the events of that Tuesday in January. Her account in many respects matches public statements from two others at the scene and FBI statements.
But the full story of what happened is weeks off. Police investigating the fatal shooting are withholding all reports, recordings and witness statements until they’re done. Four of those traveling with Cox or in a second vehicle remain in jail, unavailable for interviews.
Cox is facing a federal conspiracy charge for her role in the takeover of the wildlife refuge headquarters about 30 miles southeast of Burns. But a federal judge ordered her released to return home to Utah and granted permission for her to attend Finicum’s funeral.
In a 90-minute interview, Cox filled in what she experienced and pointed out when she hadn’t directly witnessed or heard events. This account is based on her statements except as otherwise noted.
Cox acted as quartermaster for the occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, helping coordinate the steady stream of supplies needed to feed those who had come to Oregon to challenge the federal government.
A small group left a peaceful protest in Burns on Jan. 2 and that evening took over the unattended refuge compound. The group was led by Ammon Bundy, a son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. He was joined by older brother Ryan, a Montana militiaman named Ryan Payne and about 15 others. Finicum, 54, a rancher from Arizona, often acted as spokesman for the group.
The armed protesters turned life upside down in remote Harney County and grabbed headlines from coast to coast with their demands. They wanted the refuge and other federal property turned over to private owners or local government. They wanted freedom for ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven, both convicted on federal arson charges.
The Bundy message found an attentive audience among some people frustrated with the U.S. Forest Service to the north in Grant County. Payne, Finicum and others had traveled to John Day in mid-January to meet with those local residents. That included Sheriff Glenn Palmer, who met the militants twice.
That welcoming attitude put Finicum, Cox and others on the road to John Day on the afternoon of Jan. 26. A Grant County woodsman invited the Bundys to speak at a public meeting that he organized at the senior center. Palmer was scheduled to speak, too.
Cox hadn’t meant to go. She was planning to return to her family in Utah. A missing videographer changed that.
Cox said a convoy planned to head to John Day, with drivers leaving the refuge 15 minutes apart.
“We weren’t supposed to be together” for security reasons, she said.
Among the first to head out was a van carrying Odalis Sharp of Auburn, Kansas, and seven of her children. They were going to sing gospels at the meeting. Another daughter, Victoria Sharp, 18, had arrived at the refuge the day before. She was still showering when it was time for the family to leave, so she was catching a ride with Finicum.
As Finicum prepared to head out, the man tasked with filming the Sharp family as they sang couldn’t be found. Cox agreed on the spot to fill in, loading video gear and speakers into the covered bed of Finicum’s already-packed truck.
Finicum slid into the driver’s seat with Ryan Payne beside him. Ryan Bundy took the seat right behind Finicum, with Sharp in the middle and Cox beside her. They pulled out of the occupied refuge about 3:30 p.m. – roughly an hour before the shooting.
They were followed by the last rig in the convoy – a Jeep driven by Mark McConnell with Brian “Booda” Cavalier, a self-described Bundy family bodyguard, in the front passenger seat and Ammon Bundy in the rear seat.
Cox and the others settled in for the 100-mile trip. She packed along trail mix, jerky and dried mangos. The men talked while Cox worked her cellphone, texting, responding to messages and making calls.
A short distance behind was the Jeep.
She dialed a friend in John Day, intending to invite her to come hear the Sharp family perform. She got an answering machine and was just leaving a message when she spotted police vehicles lined up on a Forest Service road off U.S. 395.
That’s the moment, she said, when Finicum realized there was trouble. She said law enforcement vehicles with their emergency lights activated pulled onto the highway and fell in behind the Jeep. According to the FBI video, two police rigs then came up behind Finicum’s truck.
“LaVoy is nervous at this point,” Cox said. “He does not want to stop. He’s isn’t stopping. He said, ‘We’re going to see the sheriff.’”
She said the group was expecting to see Palmer in John Day. “The sheriff of Grant County has always been in support of us,” Cox said. Finicum felt Palmer could protect the occupiers if they could just get to him, she said.
Palmer declined to answer written questions about the matter.
Finicum’s determination to push on, though, triggered an argument with Payne.
Payne had participated in the 2014 standoff with federal agents in Nevada over Cliven Bundy’s disputed grazing privileges. Cox said Payne grew increasingly agitated, urging Finicum to stop. The truck rolled to a stop straddling the centerline, and armed police stepped out of the two trailing tactical rigs.
Payne rolled down his window and thrust his hands out.
“That very second, I see a red laser light, right by the mirror,” Cox said. “I heard the ping – they shot at him. He jumped back. I thought it hit his bracelet.”
Victoria Sharp panicked at the noise.
“They’re shooting at us!” she screamed.
The isn’t clear about whether any round, lethal or nonlethal, was fired. Law enforcement sources said initial reports from the scene didn’t account for any shot at that point. Oregon State Police and the FBI were involved in the operation.
Payne told the group the police “mean business” and stepped out of the pickup, shouting at officers that there were women inside. He was soon in police custody, while Finicum yelled at police that he wanted to go see the sheriff, referring to Palmer.
“LaVoy put one hand out the window. He had one hand on the steering wheel,” Cox said. “He can see them in the rearview mirror. I know he can see the laser. He said, ‘Go ahead and shoot me.’” He repeated that they had a meeting with the sheriff.
Finicum told the women to get out if they wanted to, but Sharp was terrified of being shot. Cox said her motherly instinct took over and she chose to stay to protect Sharp.
Cox and Ryan Bundy tried calling for help on their cellphones. Cox dialed a Josephine County leader of the Oath Keepers, but they had lost cell service.
Then, Finicum instructed all of them to “get down” and he “drops it into gear and takes off,” Cox said.
Cox and Ryan Bundy started recording, Cox on her camera and Bundy on his cellphone.
“We knew our best weapons were our cameras,” Cox said.
Bundy wedged down in front of his seat and Cox scrunched down with Sharp splayed along the seat.
“LaVoy, how far do you think we’ll get before they shoot out our tires?” Cox asked. He didn’t respond. She asked him how far to John Day.
“When he told me about 50 miles, my heart sunk,” Cox said. “There’s no way we could outrun them on that snowy, icy road.”
Cox kept recording as Finicum took the truck to what she estimated was 60 mph. In little more than one minute after accelerating, Finicum encountered three police vehicles blocking the highway.
“Hold on,” he said. Everyone was belted in.
He steered the truck to the left, off the highway.
“We sink into the snow and we’re stuck. We come to a dead stop. They started shooting immediately and LaVoy jumped out,” Cox said.
Cox held up her camera to keep recording, but lost sight of Finicum.
“He’s running away from the vehicle, screaming, ‘Shoot me, shoot me, shoot me,’” Cox said.
The FBI video showed Finicum shot and killed after he was several steps away from the truck. The FBI said he twice reached into his jacket where he had a loaded handgun.
Meantime, Cox said, chaos prevailed inside the truck. She said the passengers endured a fussilade.
“We still have lasers all over inside our vehicle,” Cox said. “We’re being shot at. I’m worried. I see one on Ryan’s hat. I’m trying to shove his head down.”
Ryan Bundy had been facing backward, his head at eye level with the left rear passenger window. He apparently could see Finicum.
“They shot him,” Bundy reported.
Cox described round after round of pepper spray canisters coming through the windshield and through the open front passenger window. She said the small metal canisters resembled votive candles.
“They filled up the place with smoke,” Cox said. “It was burning our faces. It was burning our nose and mouth. I grabbed my coat. It was a down jacket. I breathed through the collar part. Victoria, who had her head down, took part of my coat. Ryan put his arm up over his mouth and nose.”
Cox, who said she’s familiar with guns, said at least five rounds of some type hit the passenger window in her door but didn’t break it. One round left a black mark.
The FBI said that only nonlethal rounds, including the pepper spray canisters and sponge rounds, were fired into the truck. Police also deployed small explosives known as “flash bangs.”
Sharp was screaming “They’re trying to kill us” and then at the top of her lungs yelled at police to stop. Cox said she joined in, and the firing did stop.
Cox said police then ordered “the man” to get out – not hailing Bundy by name. As he stepped into the snow, he dropped his cellphone, an act caught on the video.
Sharp was next. “She sees LaVoy. ‘He’s dead. They killed him,’” Cox quoted her as saying.
Cox was the last out, dumping her cellphone, camera and notes onto the floor to crawl slightly uphill on the rear seat to get out.
“I looked forward and see all these men dressed in combat gear with long rifles,” Cox said. “It was like a war zone.”
As she stepped toward the back of the truck, “I see that a wheel is still spinning in the snow. The truck is still running.” The video shows occasional wisps of smoke, but it’s unclear if this is from the spinning tires.
And then she saw Finicum. She was struck by one detail given that he had fallen backward in the snow: “He still had his hat on and his glasses.”
She looked for his wounds. “I saw no blood. I saw no injuries. I could see his face,” she said.
Meantime, police demanded to know whether anyone remained in the truck.
“Nobody,” she told them.
Cox was handcuffed and placed on the road next to Sharp, coatless and shivering. Cox leaned into her, trying to share some warmth. Police soon let the two perch on the edge of a van’s open doorway. Cox said law enforcement by now had moved to Finicum’s body.
“You killed him,” she told them. “You murdered him.”
She said she shifted her focus to trying to calm Sharp. She engaged Sharp in prayer.
“Then she (Sharp) yells out, ‘I forgive you.’ And I said, ‘We hope God forgives you,’” Cox said.
She continued trying to settle Sharp. “You will remember this for the rest of your life. You must testify and tell the truth of what you saw today,” Cox told her.
The two began singing, including the nation’s anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Cox asked police if she was under arrest and was told she was being detained. She hunted for badge names to identify who was holding her.
“There were no name tags on these people,” she said.
The two were led to a police van and driven down the road toward Burns. Police loaded in Ammon Bundy, Payne, Cavalier and McConnell.
“LaVoy’s dead,” Sharp told the others, according to Cox.
Ammon Bundy teared up, Cox said. Payne began hitting his head against the van window, yelling at police, “You killed an innocent man. You’ve become murderers.’”
Sharp wondered what had become of her family. She would learn later that her mother and siblings did make it to John Day, where they would tearfully perform before a hall shocked by word that something terrible had happened.
Cox said after what seemed like hours, police stopped and loaded each of them into a separate SUV for the long drive to Portland. Sharp and McConnell were not among them. They were released in Burns, free to go.
