Ruby Ridge: The Killing of Vicki Weaver
Ruby Ridge in Boundary County, Idaho, was the location of an eleven-day siege by the U.S. Federal Government in 1992. On August 21, deputies from the US Marshals Service attempted to serve a bench warrant issued for the arrest of Randy Weaver for failure to appear on federal firearms charges.
Randy Weaver was an American survivalist, a white separatist, and a former U.S. Army Green Beret. The Weaver family had moved to northern Idaho during the 1980s to home school their four children and escape what wife Vicki Weaver saw as “a corrupted world."
Vicki, the “religious leader” of the Weaver clan, began having recurrent dreams in 1978 which consisted of living on a mountaintop, and which she said were a sign that the apocalypse was imminent. After Samuel Weaver was born, the Weavers began visited the Amish to learn how they did things without modern technology, and began to sell their possessions to fund their new life.
They bought twenty acres of land on Ruby Ridge in 1983 and began building a cabin on a hillside on Ruby Creek opposite Caribou Ridge.
In 1984, Randy Weaver and a neighbor, Terry Kinnison, had a legal dispute over a land deal. Kinnison was ordered to pay Weaver $2,100 in court costs and damages; in response to his loss in the courtroom, Kinnison wrote letters to the FBI, the Secret Service, and the county sheriff in which he made false claims that Randy Weaver had threatened to kill then Pope John Paul II, President Ronald Reagan, and Idaho Governor John V. Evans.
In January 1985, the FBI and the Secret Service launched an investigation based on these false claims. The Secret Service believed that Weaver was a member of the white supremacist group Aryan Nations and had a large collection of weapons. While the Weavers had allegedly attended several Aryan Nations meetings at Hayden Lake, Weaver denied being involved with the group, and denied the allegations made against him, and no charges were filed.
The investigation noted that Weaver associated with a man named Frank Kumnick, who was associated with members of Aryan Nations. Weaver told the investigators that that Kumnick was "associated with The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord," but that neither he nor Kumnick was a member of Aryan Nations.
The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, also known as CSA, was an anti-government Christian Identity militia active in the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s.
The CSA developed out of a Baptist congregation, the Zarephath-Horeb Community Church, which was founded in 1971 in Pontiac, Missouri. The group operated a large compound in northern Arkansas which was known as "the Farm".
In April 1985, federal and state law enforcement officials, who had been investigating the CSA over weapons violations and terrorism charges, carried out a three-day siege of “the Farm”, which led to the arrest and conviction of the CSA's leadership, as well as the dissolution of the CSA.
Not long afterwards, the Weaver family filed an affidavit alleging that their “personal enemies” were plotting to provoke the FBI into attacking and killing the Weaver family.
On May 6, 1985, the Weavers allegedly sent President Reagan a letter claiming that their enemies may have sent threats to Reagan in the name of the Weavers using a forged signature. No evidence of such a letter exists, but in 1992, a prosecutor would cite the 1985 letter as an alleged Weaver family conspiracy against the federal government.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms first became aware of Weaver in July 1986, when Randy Weaver was introduced to a confidential ATF informant, a weapons dealer for various motorcycle gangs, at a meeting of the World Aryan Congress.
Weaver had been invited to the meeting by Kumnick, the original target of the ATF investigation. Over the next three years, Weaver and the ATF informant met several times; in July of 1989, Weaver invited the informant to his home to discuss forming a group to fight the "Zionist Organized" U.S. government. In October of 1989, the ATF claimed that Weaver sold the informant two illegal sawed-off shotguns.
In November 1989, Weaver accused the ATF informant of being a spy for the police. Weaver had been warned about the ATF information by an FBI informant named Rico Valentino, who later outed the ATF informant to Aryan Nations security. The ATF informant's handler, Herb Byerly, ordered him to stay away from Weaver.
In June 1990, Byerly attempted to use the shotgun charge as leverage to get Weaver to act as an informant for the investigation into Aryan Nations. Weaver refused, and the ATF filed charges in June 1990, in which they falsely claimed that Weaver was a bank robber with criminal convictions; at the time Weaver had no criminal record, and a 1995 Senate investigation found that, "Weaver was not a suspect in any bank robberies."
In December of 1990, a federal grand jury indicted Weaver for making and possessing, but not for selling, illegal weapons in October 1989. When Weaver didn’t show up for court on February 20, a Judge issued the aforementioned bench warrant for Weaver on his failure to appear in court.
On February 26, Ken Keller, a reporter for the Kootenai Valley Times, called the U.S. Probation Office and asked if Weaver was a no show in court on February 20 because the letter he received informing him of the court date had the incorrect date on it. The Chief Probation Officer, Terrence Hummel, contacted the Judge's clerk to inform them of the incorrect date contained in the letter. Hummel also contacted the U.S. Marshals Service and Weaver's attorney, informing them both of the error.
The Judge refused to withdraw the bench warrant but the US Marshals service agreed to put off executing the warrant until after March 20 in order to see whether Weaver would show up in court on that day. Instead of going along with the Marshals plan, the U.S. Attorney's Office called a grand jury on March 14, did not inform the grand jury of Richins’ letter, and asked the grand jury to issue an indictment for failure to appear. The grand jury issued the indictment.
When the Weaver case passed to the US Marshals, no one told the Marshals that the ATF had attempted to solicit Weaver as an informant. Weaver already had a deep and intense distrust of government; inconsistent messages from the government and his lawyer didn’t make him more trusting.
He began to believe there was a conspiracy against him, and that he would not receive a fair trial. His distrust grew when he was told by his attorney that if he lost the trial, he would lose his land, essentially leaving Vicki homeless, and that the government would take away his children.
The Marshals made attempts to get Weaver to surrender peacefully, but he refused to leave his cabin. On March 4, 1992, U.S. Marshals Ron Evans and Jack Cluff drove to the Weaver property and spoke with Weaver by pretending they were real-estate prospects in an operation code-named "Northern Exposure.”
Surveillance teams and were cameras set up, and Marshals determined that the Weaver family response to visitors was to take armed positions until the visitors were identified.
On August 21, 1992, six Marshals were sent to scout the area dressed in military camouflage and equipped with night-vision goggles and M16 rifles. Art Roderick, Larry Cooper, and William F. "Bill" Degan acted as a reconnaissance team, while David Hunt, Joseph Thomas, and Frank Norris took an observation post on the ridge north of the cabin.
At some point and for some reason, Roderick decided to throw rocks at the Weaver cabin to test the reaction of the Weaver’s dogs. The dogs reacted; Weaver's friend, Kevin Harris, and Weaver's 14-year-old son, called Sammy, emerged chasing after the Weaver’s dog Striker. They were hoping the dog had noticed some game as the family was out of meat.
The recon team, made up of Roderick, Cooper, and Degan, initially retreated through the woods in radio contact with the OP team, but later took up hidden defensive positions. When the Marshals' position was revealed by the yellow labrador retriever Striker, Roderick shot the dog dead.
Sammy Weaver reportedly screamed the Marshals, "You've killed my dog, you son of a bitch!", and then shot at Roderick. Cooper shot back at Sammy Weaver and Kevin Harris as Harris took cover behind a tree stump and returned fire with a single shot that killed Marshal William Francis "Bill" Degan.
14-year-old Sammy Weaver, now retreating up a hill, was shot in the back and killed by US Marshal Larry Cooper. A ballistics report determined that nineteen rounds were fired in total. "Striker" the dog was killed by a round entering his body two inches from the anus, exiting the chest, and 14-year-old Sammy was killed by a shot to the back.
The Justice Department's Ruby Ridge Task Force report to the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR, 1994) states:
The evidence suggests, but does not establish, that the shot that killed Sammy Weaver was fired by DUSM Cooper.
Roderick and Cooper stated that Striker preceded Harris and Sammy out of the woods, and Degan challenged Harris, who turned, shot and fatally wounded Degan before he could fire first. They said Roderick shot the dog once, Sammy fired twice at Roderick, and Roderick returned fire. Roderick and Cooper both testified that they heard multiple gunshots from the Weaver party.
Cooper testified that he fired two three-shot bursts at Harris and saw Harris fall "like a sack of potatoes," with leaves flying up in front of him, and then took cover. He testified that he saw Sammy run away and radioed OP team member Dave Hunt that he had either wounded or killed Harris.
As described by Randy and Sara Weaver, in their book The Federal Siege, Harris's version of events differed from the Feds. Harris told them Striker ran up to Cooper, then ran to Roderick, who shot it in front of Sammy. Sammy yelled, "You shot my dog, you son of a bitch!", and fired a shot at Roderick.
Harris said that Degan came out of the woods and shot Sammy in the arm, and Harris fired once, hitting Degan in the chest. According to the Weavers, Harris said that Cooper fired at Harris, who ducked for cover, and Cooper fired again, hitting Sammy in the back.
Harris fired about 6 feet in front of Cooper, forcing him to take cover. Only then did Cooper identify himself as a U.S. Marshal. Harris said he checked on Sammy, and ran back to the Weavers' cabin after realizing Sammy was dead.
By Saturday, August 22, special rules of engagement were drafted and approved by FBI headquarters and the Marshal Service for use on Ruby Ridge. According to the Department of Justice, the Ruby Ridge rules of engagement were as follows:
"If any adult in the area around the cabin is observed with a weapon after the surrender announcement had been made, deadly force could and should be used to neutralize the individual."
"If any adult male is observed with a weapon prior to the announcement deadly force can and should be employed if the shot could be taken without endangering any children."
"If compromised by any dog the dog can be taken out."
"Any subjects other than Randy Weaver, Vicki Weaver, Kevin Harris presenting threat of death or grievous bodily harm FBI rules of deadly force apply. Deadly force can be utilized to prevent the death or grievous bodily injury to oneself or that of another."
The rules of engagement were modified from "adult" to "adult male" to exclude Vicki Weaver around 2:30 or 3:00 p.m. after consultation with SAC Eugene Glenn because Vicki Weaver was not seen at the site of Degan's killing. The updated rules of engagement were communicated to agents on site, including communication to HRT sniper/observers prior to deployment, communications that included the change of "adult" to "adult male" to exclude Vicki Weaver.
There were various interpretations of those rules by individual members of FBI SWAT teams at the Ruby Ridge site, and a 1996 Senate report on the siege criticized the Ruby Ridge rules of engagement as "virtual shoot-on-sight orders."
FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot and wounded Randy Weaver in the back with the bullet exiting his right armpit while he was lifting the latch on the shed to visit the body of his dead son. The sniper testified at the later trial that he had put his crosshairs on Weaver's spine, but Weaver moved at the last second.
As Weaver, his 16-year-old daughter Sara, and Harris ran back toward the house, Horiuchi fired a second bullet, wounding Harris in the chest. This is the bullet that killed Vicki Weaver, who was standing behind the door in the cabin where Harris entered. Vicki was holding the Weavers' 10-month-old baby Elisheba when she was shot down by the FBI.
Horiuchi would also play a controversial role in the Waco debacle when on September 13, 1993, Charles Riley, a fellow FBI sniper deployed during the Waco Siege claimed that he had heard Horiuchi shooting from "Sierra One", Horiuchi’s position at a house in front of the compound holding eight snipers, including Horiuchi and Christopher Curran, on April 19, 1993.
Riley later retracted his statement, saying that he had been misquoted, and that he had only heard snipers at Sierra One announce that shots had been fired by Branch Davidians. Riley later clarified that he had heard a radio report from Sierra One that someone at that position had witnessed gunfire coming from the compound.
The Committee on Government reform notes that "There is no evidence that HRT snipers stationed at a house (designated the Sierra One sniper position) across the Double EE Ranch Road from the compound fired shots on April 19, 1993."
Three of the twelve expended .308 Winchester casings that the Texas Rangers reported finding in the house were at Horiuchi's position. However, officials maintain that they were left behind from the earlier use of the house by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives snipers on February 28, 1993. The recovered casings at the house were tested and identified by the Texas Rangers and the Office of Special Counsel matched them to weapons used by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on February 28, 1993 and not those used by the FBI.
For months following Waco, Timothy McVeigh worked at gun shows and handed out free cards printed with Horiuchi's name and address, "in the hope that somebody in the Patriot movement would assassinate the sharpshooter". He also wrote Horiuchi hate mail, suggesting that "what goes around, comes around".
McVeigh considered targeting Horiuchi, or a member of his family, before settling on bombing a federal building, ultimately choosing the Murrah Building.
In 1997, Boundary County prosecutor Denise Woodbury indicted FBI HRT sniper Lon Horiuchi for manslaughter on state charges, just before the statute of limitations for this crime expired. She appointed a special prosecutor to conduct the case. In 1998 the trial was removed to federal court because Horiuchi had been acting in the line of duty as a federal law enforcement officer. Judge Lodge quickly dismissed the case on grounds of sovereign immunity.
The decision to dismiss charges was reversed (6–5) in 2001 by an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit. Boundary County prosecutor Brett Benson, who had defeated Woodbury in the May 2000 primary and won the November election, decided to drop the case. He said he believed that it was unlikely the state could prove the criminal charges, and too much time had passed.
He also believed his decision would enable the process of healing in the county. Attorney Stephen Yagman, who had been appointed as the special prosecutor, said that he vehemently disagreed with the decision. He suggested that the case could still be prosecuted if the Boundary County prosecutor later changed again.
Horiuchi retired from the FBI in October 2006, with the job title of FBI Program Manager and Contracting Officers Technical Representative, managing programs with outside vendors.
The report to the Office of Professional Responsibility at the Department of Justice from June 1994 stated unequivocally that the rules that allowed the second shot to have been made did not satisfy constitutional standards for legal use of deadly force.
A 1996 report by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information said that the lack of a request from the marshals to the Weavers asking them to surrender was "inexcusable."
Harris and the Weavers were not believed to be an imminent threat. A later Justice task force criticized Horiuchi for firing through the door when he had no idea if anyone was on the other side. Four days after Vicki was killed, the rules of engagement were revoked, and the FBI's Standard Deadly Force Policy replaced them.
The FBI rules of deadly force in effect in 1992 stated that:
Agents are not to use deadly force against any person except as necessary in self-defense or the defense of another, when they have reason to believe that they or another are in danger of death or grievous bodily harm. Whenever feasible, verbal warnings should be given before deadly force is applied.
On Monday, August 24, the fourth day of the siege, FBI Deputy Assistant Director Danny Coulson, who did not know that Vicki Weaver had been killed, wrote a memo with the following content:
Something to Consider
1. Charge against Weaver is Bull Shit.
2. No one saw Weaver do any shooting.
3. Vicki has no charges against her.
4. Weaver's defense. He ran down the hill to see what dog was barking at. Some guys in camys [camouflage] shot his dog. Started shooting at him. Killed his son. Harris did the shooting. He is in pretty strong legal position.
The stand-off was ultimately resolved by civilian negotiators including Bo Gritz, who Weaver agreed to speak with. Harris, who had urged Weaver to end his suffering, surrendered on Sunday, August 30. He was removed by stretcher, and then flown by an Air Force medical evacuation helicopter to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. Weaver also allowed the removal of his wife's body.
The FBI gave Gritz a deadline to get the remaining Weavers to surrender, and if they did not surrender, they would resolve the standoff by launching a tactical assault. Weaver and his daughters surrendered the next day; Harris and Weaver were arrested.
Weaver was transferred by military helicopter and a US Marshals jet to Boise, where he was given a medical examination at St. Luke's Medical Center. He was held overnight at the Ada County jail and arraigned in federal court the next day, Tuesday, September 1. Weaver's daughters were released to the custody of relatives. Federal officials considered charging Sara, who was 16, as an adult.
Harris was in serious condition at Sacred Heart, but U.S. Marshals refused to allow his parents to see or even talk to him until after a federal court order was issued.
Weaver and Harris were charged with a variety of offenses; Harris was acquitted of all charges. Exactly five years after the incident, on August 21, 1997, Harris was indicted by Boundary County prosecutor Denise Woodbury for the first-degree murder of Bill Degan. The charge was dismissed as double jeopardy because he had already been acquitted in a federal criminal trial on the same charge in 1993.
Weaver was acquitted in July of all charges except missing his original court date and violating his bail conditions, for which he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and fined $10,000. Credited with time served and good behavior, Weaver served less than 16 months.
Questions about Ruby Ridge and the subsequent Waco siege continue to haunt the Federal government, as both Waco and Ruby Ridge involved the same agencies and many of the same officials. Both the internal 1994 Ruby Ridge Task Force Report and the 1995 Senate subcommittee report on Ruby Ridge criticized the rules of engagement as unconstitutional.
In 1997 Michael Kahoe, the chief of the FBI violent crime section, pled guilty to obstruction of justice for destroying a report critical of the agency's role at Ruby Ridge. He was sentenced to 18 months and a $4,000 fine.
Randy Weaver and his daughters filed a wrongful death suit for $200 million for the killing of his wife and son. In an out-of-court settlement in August 1995, the federal government awarded Randy Weaver $100,000 and it also awarded $1 million to each of his three daughters. The government did not admit that it had committed any wrongdoing in the deaths of Sammy and Vicki. On condition of anonymity, a DOJ official told The Washington Post that he believed that the Weavers would have probably won the full amount if the case had gone to trial.
Harris filed a civil suit for damages, and in September 2000, Harris was awarded a $380,000 settlement by the government.
Randy Weaver and his daughter, Sara, wrote The Federal Siege at Ruby Ridge (1998), about the incident, and the Weaver family moved to Kalispell, Montana. After becoming a born again Christian, Sara Weaver said in 2012 that she had forgiven the federal agents who killed her mother and brother.
Randy Weaver died on May 11, 2022, at the age of 74.
The events at the siege of Ruby Ridge, and the Waco siege roughly six months later, were both cited by Timothy McVeigh as his primary motivation to carry out the OKC Bombing.