Armed And Militant Fugitive Wanted On Federal Weapons Charges Has Advocated Violence Against Government

An armed fugitive who confronted federal agents outside his Lincoln County cabin this week told a state employee last month that militia groups “have every right” to shoot government workers.

Paul James Cavanaugh, who is wanted on a federal warrant charging him with firearms violations, made the comment April 15 in a state office in north Spokane, according to a woman who works there.

Cavanaugh, 36, went to the office to complain that state spending practices were illegal, said the woman, who asked not to be identified because she’s afraid of the man.

Cavanaugh is known to carry an Uzi carbine under a long black-leather coat and also may carry a .44-caliber Magnum revolver.

“He had a well-worn copy of the (U.S.) Constitution with parts highlighted,” the state worker said Thursday. “He said, ‘If the militia were to come into this building and arrest everyone in this building or shoot everybody in this building, they would have every right to do it.”’

Security at the office has been increased since Cavanaugh’s visit, said the woman, who described the fugitive as 6-1/2-feet tall with a heavy beard.

“He was very intimidating,” she said.

Cavanaugh was declared a fugitive Monday after he confronted agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searching his remote cabin on Upper Hawk Creek, about 15 miles northwest of Davenport.

The agents, investigating the unsolved Spokane City Hall bombing, found a bomb-making instruction book, gunpowder and illegal firearms in the remote cabin.

They don’t know whether he’s connected to the City Hall bombing.

Cavanaugh, who has a lengthy criminal record in Spokane County, surprised the agents as they were conducting the search and accused them of trespassing.

He reportedly displayed a semiautomatic assault rifle before running into nearby woods. Agents said they later heard a single gunshot, and some speculated he may have killed himself.

Bob Harper, the agent in charge of the ATF office in Spokane, said Thursday no one has seen Cavanaugh since Monday and authorities don’t know whether he’s dead or alive.

“That’s my big question right now,” Harper said. “We’ve had a lot of calls from people who say they’ve seen him. It’s kind of hard to say.”

Harper said authorities hope to search the area around Cavanaugh’s remote cabin before the end of the weekend to determine if he killed himself or died in an accident.

“He may have tripped out there in the woods” and accidently shot himself, Harper said.

Authorities left the area Monday because they weren’t prepared to launch a massive manhunt for a suspect considered heavily armed.

Family members say Cavanaugh has anti-government philosophies and likes to collect guns but isn’t violent.

“He’s basically a good person,” said Jeannette Delorme, the fugitive’s mother. “They make him sound so mean and vicious, but he’s not that type. He’s had guns, but he’s never used them against anybody. He just likes guns, like other people like bikes.”

Dell Studhorse said his brother “just doesn’t like government.”

“He wants to change some laws but has no idea how to do it,” Studhorse said. “He looks into these old law books and the Constitution and all this other stuff. He has no problems with people.”

On April 17, Cavanaugh was seen at a meeting of Spokane Horizons, a group working to craft a 20-year development plan for the city.

People who attended the meeting said he stood in the back of the room and gave out hand-written literature that made vague references to the Constitution.

“It had bits and pieces carved out of the Constitution that he had elaborated on,” said Jim Kolva, who attended the meeting at the Ag Trade Center.

A woman who was there said she talked to Cavanaugh for about 15 minutes.

“He talked about the Constitution and the right to bear arms - rather disjointed and incoherent rantings,” she said. “He told me we have to be careful about a one-world government.”

The woman, a civic activist who wished to remain anonymous, said there were many government officials at the meeting, including Mayor Jack Geraghty, and City Council members Chris Anderson and Phyllis Holmes.

“If you wanted to take out your government, this was the place,” she said.

Cavanaugh, wearing a patch over one eye and his long, dark coat, left the meeting without incident.

“He did not create a disturbance at all,” said Steve Franks, a city planner who attended the workshop. “But he had a distinct presence.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: HISTORY OF VIOLENCE Paul James Cavanaugh - also known as Paul Ironfoot, James Natas, Paul Studhorse and Paul Jameson - has a lengthy criminal record in Spokane County. His most recent felony conviction, in 1989, was for attempting to make methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of a firearm. In 1988, he was convicted of breaking into a house and beating a man dating his former girlfriend, court records show. Since 1980, he also has pleaded guilty to car theft, second-degree theft and possession of a controlled substance.

The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Adam Lynn and Kristina Johnson Staff writers Staff Writer Richard Wagoner contributed to this report.