04x04 - Ruby Ridge: The Real Story Part 2

[bunniefuu]

- The marshals were there
to arrest Randall Weaver

for failure to appear warrant.

- This guy is in like
this isolated cabin up

on a mountaintop
in the panhandle of Idaho.

- You know, he's putting
suppressive fire down

and ends up k*lling Sammy.

- The intensity
of the protests

at the bottom of the hill
are getting worse.

- Are you proud
of yourselves?!

- It's beginning to get
more and more aggressive.

- One of the most
intense situations

you ever had to put yourself in.
This is one of them.

- He was going to surrender.
- Mm-hmm.

- But his daughter's
talked him out of it.

- I've got my r*fle
over this rock

and I'm praying to God,
I don't want to k*ll

this teenage kid.
Please don't make me do this.

- So if that little girl
is standing there

with a long weapon
pointed at me,

I mean, you gotta do
what you gotta do.

In the FBI,
we make a lot of headlines.

Drug busts, mob stings.

t*rror1st takedowns.

We understand why people

want to tell stories about us.

- Mark it.
- Freeze!

- FBI.
- FBI.

- Action!

But they don't
know the half of it.

What really goes down?

We save that for each other,

when we're talking
agent to agent.

This is FBI True.

- I think we all were struck
with how the situation

was ratcheting up considerably
with this discovery.

I just didn't know
who had actually shot him.

But I assumed
it was the marshals.

- Right.
- And he was armed that day

with a high-powered r*fle.

And I thought, well,
maybe he's the one that k*lled

Marshal Degan.

I didn't know. I did not know.

- What happened there
was the marshals

were actually leaving
for the day,

when Stryker found them.
- Charlie. Who's Stryker?

- Stryker is Sammy's little dog.
A yellow lab.

- And he was chasing...
- The marshals.

Sara even said
in later statements

that they saw Stryker
go initially,

and Sammy and Kevin
went after him,

and they all thought
that Stryker had perhaps

hit on a bear or a cougar.

- And the dog's
catching up to them.

And so, the marshals
turn around,

one of them anyway,
shoots the dog

because it's almost on them.

Well, Sammy, hears the shot.

And he starts sh**ting
at the marshals

in their direction.

Now, Marshal Degan
comes into contact

with Kevin Harris,
and he gets shot.

And when Deputy Cooper...

You know, he's putting
suppressive fire down

and ends up, unbeknownst to him,
k*lling Sammy.

None of them knew
they had done that.

- When you get
to the base camp,

are you learning about
giving an update to the press

that Sammy was passed?

- They had to tell people.

Federal officials
have just announced

Randy Weaver's 13-year-old son

died during the initial
shootout Friday.

- The intensity
of the protests

at the bottom of the hill
are getting worse.

- Shame on you! Shame on you!

Shame on you!

- It's beginning to get
more and more aggressive.

More and more people
are showing up

from different groups

Protesters
and neighbors are apparently

not taking the news well.

- b*stards! Are you
proud of yourselves?

- It was some
white supremacist groups.

- You're a disgrace
to the white race!

Disgrace to the race!

- It was also
sovereign citizens.

Some of these
constitutionalists.

Some people I think,
they were probably

genuinely concerned,
maybe neighbors,

but others were not. They were
there to start trouble.

- The people that
were down there,

A*F, marshals,
controlling the perimeter.

They were getting nervous.
- Baby k*ller!

You're a baby k*ller!

- You're a traitor to your race
and your country!

- Everybody has g*ns.

Now you have not only
a threat from within,

but you have
an outer perimeter threat.

And it's really a perimeter
that you cannot contain,

even if you wanted to,
because it's so vast around you.

They could have come in
from any direction.

If they were hellbent
on coming in and getting us,

they could have.

Five neo-Nazis

were arrested nearby,

and charged with carrying in
a small arsenal

of concealed weapons

We need to get
a resolution urgently.

- What is the FBI
planning at this point?

- Everything stopped
and we went straight

to a negotiation strategy. 100%.

- We've got to find out
why they're not talking to us.

We've got to find
another alternative

because what we're doing now
is not working.

- At any point,
have we communicated

into the cabin like,
"This is the FBI,

you need to come out
with your hands up?

Or you need to surrender"?

- Oh, yeah. On a bullhorn.

The negotiators
are talking on a bullhorn.

- They don't have phones,
right, in the cabin?

- Nothing.
- No.

Do we give
them a device

so that they can
communicate back?

- We put a throw phone
on a robot

and took it up there,
and we told them

what it was and,
we asked them to come out

- and take the phone.
- But there's really

no movement from the cabin
and there's no communication.

- What are the commands
that they're saying

to the Weaver family
at this point?

- They're just asking
them to come out.

They're offering them breakfast.

They're saying,
"Come on outside.

We have breakfast out here.

We can work
this out peacefully."

- We are taking
every step we possibly can

to, through the use of a phone,

affect a surrender.

- No response?
- Nothing. Crickets.

- Jim, so all of our attempts
to negotiate,

talk to, reach out to,
have been negative.

What does the FBI do
at this point?

- The negotiators decide
to go with a third party

intermediary. They bring in
Bo Gritz, a Colonel.

- Bo Gritz he was running
for president, right?

- That's right.
- I'm Bo Gritz,

and I'm your candidate
for president in 1992.

- He's a former Green Beret.

Highly decorated.

And they think that
Randy Weaver,

he's going to have respect
for Bo Gritz.

And Bo had a good reputation

within the Aryan Nation
community as well.

He was considered sympathetic
to their cause.

- Don't tell me that together,

with an army of 11,000 patriots,

that we can't take
Capitol Hill

back from District of Criminals

and restore our government

where now "the" government
exists.

- In my experience,
when they start to bring in

a third party intermediary,

they're losing control
of negotiations,

because they're not going
to really be able to control

what that person says or does
during the negotiation process.

- We, as citizens
of the United States,

and under the Constitution
of the United States,

do hereby present
this citizen's arrest warrant

for Gene Glenn.

- We are entering the realm
of a three-ring circus

at this point, in my mind.

- So we're going to do a TPI.

He doesn't hike up.
- No, no, no, no...

- So, he gets driven up.

He gets out of the APC?
Does he yell out,

Randy, it's Bo Gritz here.

- I mean, pretty much, yeah.

- Weaver! This is Bo Gritz!

- How'd that go?
- They started to pick up
communications.

- What are some of the things
that we're hearing

coming from the cabin?
- We found out

that his wife Vicki
had been shot.

What are some
of the things we're hearing

coming from the cabin?

We found out

that his wife Vicki
had been shot.

- And that was the first
words uttered by Randy Weaver.

That was the first time
anybody had said anything.

- When he said it,
the negotiator said,

"Did you just say
your bride is dead?"

And that was
the first indication

that I had that she was dead.

- Did you believe him?

- We didn't have a choice.
Why would you lie about that?

- And the way he said it?
Yes. He was....

- Emotional.
- We now have been told

that Vicki Weaver was shot
at some point

and was deceased
inside the cabin.

And Kevin Harris
is wounded severely.

With a round in his chest
that's probably fatal

if it doesn't receive
medical attention at some point.

And then Randy Weaver,
of course, has been shot.

- Kevin...

is alright,

but he did suffer a wound.

Unfortunately,

Vicki is dead.

- He apparently has
a radio that operates,

he says, I want to hear,
tonight,

that you have made
the announcement

that my bride was k*lled
on Saturday.

We're going to w*r!!

You're nothing!

Don't touch me!

- Never will you take
another woman down!

Never!

- My partner Lon
was asked to come down

to the base camp.

- Do you go with him?
- No.

- And does he ever
come back up?

- Oh, yeah. He came up and...

he wasn't the same guy
that went down.

- Yeah. He was shook up.
- He was.

He's just ashen.

And then when he came over,
he told me

what they suspect happened.

- What does he say to you?

- Well, that, you know,
Vicki was dead,

and it looks like it was
an accidental sh**ting.

- Now you're going back
to the Day One

when you guys went up
to the perimeter

and two shots were fired?

Yeah, because the door
opened as the second round

was fired. It ended up going
through the plexiglass window,

which I never saw that.
I thought it was a solid door.

- What you're saying
is that Lon comes back,

and what he shares
is that the shot was fired,

went through the plexiglass,

went through
Vicki Weaver's skull,

exited and hit Harris.

- Yes, the intended target.

- This is such a big moment.

Dale, what are you thinking?

- Well, I have no idea.
No clue.

How could that happen?
I mean, I saw one round

go into Randy,
and I was pretty sure

I saw the round go into Harris.
That's all I saw.

- So now, we've got
the three adults

inside the cabin, one deceased,

and two possibly, you know,
critically wounded.

This can't go on much longer.

So the plan was made
for Bo Gritz

to enter the cabin and have
face-to-face communications

with Randy Weaver.
And that's what happened.

They were expecting him
and he made entry into the cabin

and now he's out of sight.
And so we're going to have

to set up some sort of emergency
as*ault option

in case things start
to get bad inside.

So, Bo Gritz is briefed
that if things

start to get really bad

and you feel like
your life is in danger,

you need to say
the word "Alaska".

- And when someone
says the code word...

- That's when
the emergency as*ault team

is going to make entry
and rescue the TPI.

Later, throughout my career,
people ask me what...

what is one of the most
intense situations

you ever had to put yourself in?

This is one of them.
Because I said

to the guy behind me,
look, I was a fullback,

you know, Division one.
I said, I'm wearing my helmet

and I'm going through the door.

It's a goal line stand.

When I get through that door,
I'm not stopping

until I get
to the opposite wall.

You make sure you're my tailback
right behind me.

So you take care of any
business that I don't.

Once I make entry
into that room

and Randy, Kevin,
and then these three girls,

at least one of them
who's a teenager

and who has been participating
in these ready action drills

and has been trained
with a long weapon,

I don't want to have
to defend myself and k*ll her.

- You have kids. How many?

- Four girls.

- Yeah, I... You know...

And so now you're gonna...

- Yeah. And I just thought,
you know,

I've got to get
my mind right here

because I'm going home
when this is over with.

And so, if that little girl

is standing there with
a long weapon pointed at me,

I mean, you gotta do
what you gotta do.

Yes

- Unbelievably, Bo Gritz
is inside,

we're in the line of march,

and here comes "Alaska."
He says the word.

Behind me, my number two guy
is kind of

giving me the squeeze
on the countdown.

Five, four, three.

I'm like, you know,
getting ready to run

the hundred meter,
in the blocks,

ready to take off.
At one, it's...

"Abort, abort, abort!"
- Oh!

And I'm like...

You know, beads of sweat
coming down your forehead

and thinking, okay,
thank goodness that's over.

And sure enough,
he says it again.

Alaska.

Again, they count it down
all the way to one,

and, "Abort, abort, abort!"

And we stand down again.

And I wonder if Bo Gritz
understands that,

you know, there's eight guys
out there willing to risk

their lives to save him.

- Why did we abort
after the TPI

said twice,
the code red word?

- I never heard an explanation.

There's a lot of speculation.

- Possibly, Bo Gritz...

wanted to use this team

to make him...

"Look what I did.
I ended the whole thing,"

because it would have ended
the whole thing,

but, you know,
not the way anybody wanted.

And so, that's why
the next time he went in,

it was Jack McLamb that took
over and established rapport.

- Who's this guy?
- He was a retired

Phoenix police officer.

But he certainly established
a good rapport

with Randy that Gritz couldn't.

- Who goes in?
- Gritz an McLamb.

- Go back in.

- Jack kept telling them

you know, that their friend
Kevin Harris

needs some help there.
Gangrene sets in

and he's going to die.

And so, Kevin was the first
one to surrender.

He came out and he was
taken into custody

- And then, right after that,
they carried out Vicki's body.

- So Jimmy, at this point,
Kevin Harris is gone.

They've taken
Vicki Weaver's body.

What happens next?

- Well, now we're trying
to get Randy Weaver

to surrender
along with his daughters

and to bring
his infant child out.

The negotiations
were continuing.

- I'll just say this.
Negotiations concerning

the final resolution to this
matter are still ongoing.

- We thought this is going
to be a good day for it,

'cause his buddy's gone,
his wife's, you know, out now.

It's just him and the girls
and he was going to surrender,

but his daughter's
talked him out of it.

- How does a 16-year-old
tell the adult?

- He said he was going
to surrender and then he said,

"Nah, my daughter said...
said not to surrender.

So I'm not surrendering."

- Vicki wore the pants
in that family.

Vicki's gone.
Sara, their daughter,

assumes that role.
Sara had long g*ns.

She had been on video carrying
a long g*n.

She was a very strong-willed
young woman.

She'd lost her brother,
she'd lost her mother.

She'd just seen
this family friend leave.

You know, she sees her mother
carried out in a body bag.

Her state of mind is not stable.

So she was my biggest
concern at that point.

- But the next day,
the door opens.

Randy Weaver was carrying
his baby in his arms. And

he had Rachel on one side of him

and Sara on
the other side of him.

- And I was, like I said,
concerned about Sara

because she was the one
that didn't want to come out.

She was the last holdout.
And so I'm zeroed in on her.

I've got my r*fle over this rock

and I'm praying to God,
I don't want to k*ll

this teenage kid.
Please don't make me do this.

And I just, like, squeeze it.

And then suddenly, she just...

they just gave up.

And it was...
- Yep.

- Then it was over.

- It ended the way
we wanted it to end.

- Right.
- From the beginning.

But it didn't happen
for ten days

- A white supremacist
who held off scores of police

and federal agents
is being held this morning

at a lockup in Boise, Idaho.


surrendered yesterday,

with his three
surviving children.

- Tell me about the flight
home back to Quantico.

What does that feel like?

- The aftermath of it
initially for us

and the team was nothing.
We went on to the next mission.

- The mission was handled.
Yeah. At the end of the day,

we got on the C-141,
headed back to Quantico.

Job done.

It all started
with a bloody shootout

at the Idaho mountain top cabin

of radical white separatist
Randy Weaver.

Today, a federal jury
found Weaver and co-defendant,

Kevin Harris, not guilty
in the death of the marshal.

Their attorneys called it
a "clear case of self defense."

Critics say the government
botched the case.

- When people started digging
into his true background

that he was actually
just a truck driver,

not SF, Special Forces,
not the Rambo.

- In 1994,
when all this came up,

All of a sudden,
it's being looked upon

like we are overreaching
law enforcement

and we're...
What's the term that...?

- Jackbooted.
- Jackbooted th*gs,

et cetera, et cetera.
And then it brings in

investigation
after investigation

after investigation.

- Congressional oversight
hearings,

DOJ, inspector general, FBI.

What is it like to testify
before Congress?

- Well, that was one
of the worst days of my life.

Mr. Monroe,
if you would proceed...

- I would like to correct
something said last week

in this hearing.

Mr. Spence said
we were trained K*llers.

We are not.

We are trained to save lives.

In my 10 years as an agent,

I've never shot
nor k*lled anyone,

and in the 12 years
of HRT's existence,

and the dozens of operations
responding to violent crises,

a firearm was discharged
on only four occasions.

The trained k*ller accusation
is unfair

to all dedicated agents

and to the widow
of United States Marshal

William Deegan.

Thank you.

- Wasn't this case
investigated for,

I believe, almost ten years?

- Oh, forever.
- Yeah. But my partner,

Lon, also received...

a multitude of death threats.

And as a result of that,
he had to go on the run.

He couldn't stay here.

And he did go on the run
for about a year.

- Who are some of the people
that were targeting Lon?

- Well, Timothy McVeigh
had his photo,

you know, with him.

- I understood,
you know, based on information

that I obtained, that he was
taking the picture to g*n shows

and rallies and things
of that nature

and passing out Lon's
home address,

everywhere he went,
anywhere we went.

- The worst outcome
was the Weaver family

getting 3.1 million dollars.

- The Justice Department
says it has agreed

to pay more than
three million dollars

to a white separatist,
Randy Weaver, and his family.

- I think for me personally,

my sympathy was then
and remains

with Marshal Degan's family.

Because no one was ever held
accountable for his m*rder.

- It's true. If Weaver
had done the right thing

from the get-go,
wouldn't have had to call us,

wouldn't have lost his son,
wouldn't have lost his wife,

but at the end of the day,
we accomplished the mission

and the perpetrator
was brought to justice by us.

We did our job.

We were sent to resolve

an as*ault on a federal
officer case...

and we did.

- There's a tendency
to sensationalize

these stories,
especially if they have

that potential to be
a political football,

if you will, for, you know,
whichever side.

We're apolitical. I mean,

we have a job.
We have a mission.

In this case,

it was... a United States
deputy marshal

had been m*rder*d,
and in the course

of performing his legal duties.
So we're going to respond

to that and try to take
into custody

the people that are suspected
of doing it.

I mean, that's where
it begins and ends.

- Yup.