Sharpshooters Say Sniper Was Justified
Eight FBI snipers who surrounded Randy Weaver’s cabin told Congress on Thursday they believe a fellow sharpshooter was justified in firing a shot that killed a mother holding her baby.
The agents - the agency’s best marksmen and members of the bureau’s Hostage Rescue Team - said an FBI helicopter was airborne in the cabin’s vicinity moments before Lon Horiuchi fired the shot that hit Vicki Weaver.
The snipers said they feared someone at the cabin would shoot at the helicopter.
Horiuchi invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination when called before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday. Initially cleared of any wrongdoing by FBI Director Louis Freeh, Horiuchi could still face possible state or federal charges.
Sniper-observer Dale Monroe told the Senate subcommittee he saw Randy Weaver and his friend, Kevin Harris, both point their rifles into the air.
“I heard a…shot…and heard an adult female’s voice screaming hysterically,” recounted sharpshooter Christopher Curran. “That only lasted a few short moments and after that there was silence. I heard nothing further.”
Horiuchi’s first shot wounded Randy Weaver as he stood outside the cabin, near a shed. His second shot wounded Harris and killed Vicki Weaver, who stood behind the door of the family’s cabin.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said the first shot may be justified if the agents believed the helicopter and its occupants were endangered.
But he asked Monroe whether the danger still existed seconds later when Harris, Weaver and his daughter, Sara, ran back to the cabin.
“The threat was still there,” Monroe testified. “The threat was still immediate.”
Monroe said he heard the helicopter, but couldn’t say with certainty that Weaver or Harris were aiming at the aircraft because he was watching through a scope on his .308 boltaction rifle.
“I knew the helicopter was overhead and that is where Mr. Weaver was pointing his rifle,” Monroe said. “It appeared to me to be an aiming action.”
Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., pressed the sharpshooters to tell the truth about revised shooting rules that allowed them to shoot any armed male adult outside the cabin.
“It sounds to me like anybody outside that cabin was fair game and you should shoot them,” said Thompson, shaking his finger at the agents.
“I’m not trying to suggest you’re trying to shade things here, but the testimony suggests that,” he said. “All of this fits awfully neatly with the party line that’s coming out of the FBI.”
The sharpshooters, sporting fresh haircuts and dark suits, lined up side-by-side at the long witness tables. Seven had personal attorneys who sat a row back and passed up notes of advice. There was no contradictory testimony.
Specter, who chairs the subcommittee, said Congress may draft legislation to define when federal agents can use deadly force.
“It may be necessary for us to legislate in this area,” said Specter, who added he believes the Ruby Ridge shooting rules exceeded the limits of the law.
It’s still unclear exactly who within the Justice Department and the FBI wrote and approved the shoot-to-kill orders.
Five senior FBI officials, including former deputy director Larry Potts, are suspended for allegedly covering up their roles in drafting the orders.
Another Justice Department investigation that could bring criminal indictments is under way.
The Hostage Rescue Team flew to Spokane from FBI headquarters in Quantico, Va., just hours after a deputy U.S. marshal and Weaver’s 14-year-old son were killed on Aug. 21, 1992, during a gun battle near Weaver’s cabin.
Weaver’s attorney, Gerry Spence, told the committee last week that the team was nothing more than a “bunch of trained killers” who should be prosecuted for killing Vicki Weaver.
“We are not trained killers,” Monroe told the subcommittee at the outset of Thursday’s hearing. “We are trained to save lives.”
Only four shots have been recorded in the team’s 13-year history, two from Horiuchi’s rifle at Ruby Ridge.
Monroe said he believed that the modified shooting rules at Ruby Ridge were superceded by the FBI’s “use of deadly force” policy.
That policy says officers can only shoot to kill if their life or that of another is in immediate danger.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Thursday’s hearing Eight FBI snipers defended their colleague who fired the shot that killed Vicki Weaver during the Ruby Ridge siege. The snipers said they feared Weaver family members would shoot at an FBI helicopter flying overheard. They also said the sniper who killed Vicki Weaver acted within the FBI’s shooting guidelines. Sen. Arlen Specter said Congress may draft legislation to define when federal agents can use deadly force. Quote of the day: “I heard a … shot … and heard an adult female’s voice screaming hysterically. That only lasted a few short moments and after that there was silence. I heard nothing further.” - Christopher Curran, one of nine FBI snipers at Ruby Ridge Witnesses today: Maurice Ellsworth, former U.S. attorney for the District of Idaho who supervised the Randy Weaver prosecution; Frank Costanza, FBI helicopter pilot; and Duke Smith, deputy director of the U.S. Marshal Service.