Fbi Brass Knew Of Shooting Rules Marshal Overheard Agents At Ruby Ridge Talking With Superiors In D.C.

Associated Press The former U.S. marshal for Idaho says FBI agents at Ruby Ridge discussed new shoot-on-sight rules with their superiors on the day in August 1992 that Vicki Weaver was killed.

U.S. Marshal Michael Johnson was in the command trailer when he overheard on-site commander Eugene Glenn and Richard Rogers, commander of the FBI’s hostage rescue team, discuss the rule change on the phone with officials in Washington, D.C., the Washington Times reported recently.

“This is the first time I realized that this was pretty serious stuff,” Johnson is quoted as telling investigators.

After sending the shooting rules to Washington by fax, Johnson said, Rogers told him “everything had been OK’d.”

Johnson’s statement at least partially corroborates Glenn’s and Rogers’ claims that former FBI Deputy Director Larry Potts and other officials in Washington approved rules instructing agents they “could and should” shoot any armed adult male they saw at white separatist Randy Weaver’s cabin.

The Washington Times story was based on a transcript of a Justice Department interview leaked to the newspaper.

Johnson told The Idaho Statesman on Thursday that the story was an “accurate statement” of what he told Justice Department investigators three weeks ago in Washington. He refused to elaborate.

Potts was demoted in July and suspended in August amid allegations that key documents proving who approved the rules were destroyed. Those allegations are the subject of an internal Justice Department probe and a separate criminal investigation.

Weaver had holed up with his family in their North Idaho cabin for 18 months in 1991 and 1992 rather than go to court on weapons charges. The standoff turned deadly when 14-year-old Samuel Weaver and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan were killed in an Aug. 21, 1992, confrontation. Vicki Weaver was killed a day later by an FBI sniper.

Johnson’s account of the discussion in the trailer did not appear in an earlier, 542-page Justice Department report, although that report did include Johnson’s concerns about plans to use tear gas to flush out the family. On Thursday, Johnson said his “statements have not changed at any time since the investigation started.”

A Senate subcommittee will conduct hearings on the standoff and subsequent investigation. Randy Weaver and his daughter, Sara, 19, are scheduled to appear when those hearings begin Wednesday.