Family of Oregon occupier shot by police says authorities are covering up how he really died

The family of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, the Arizona rancher who was shot and killed by law enforcement officials last Tuesday after participating in the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, says the FBI and Oregon State Police are covering up how he actually died.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Finicum family said the shooting, which took place after Finicum fled a traffic stop, was "unjustified," Reuters reports. Two days after the shooting, the FBI released aerial footage of the incident, and said it shows Finicum outside of his truck reaching for a gun inside his coat pocket before he was shot by state police. Finicum and other occupiers were stopped as they made their way to a meeting in John Day, Oregon. Finicum was shot after the organizers of the occupation, Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy, and several others were taken into custody, and he attempted to run a police roadblock. He hit a snowbank and nearly ran over an FBI agent.

Finicum's family maintains that he was shot by officers before he exited his truck, and he lowered his hands as a reflex after being shot. The FBI, the family claims, is "seeking to manipulate and mislead the media and the American public about what really happened." They also said they came to this conclusion after speaking with Shawna Cox, who was in Finicum's truck when the shooting took place.

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