UPDATE: 10:10 p.m. Wednesday - The FBI and Oregon State Police say they've arrested three more people connected to the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in a remote Oregon area.
A statement said they arrested 45-year-old Duane Leo Ehmer of Irrigon, Oregon, and 34-year-old Dylan Wade Anderson of Provo, Utah, around 3:30 p.m. A few hours later, 43-year-old Jason S. Patrick of Bonaire, Georgia, was arrested.
The FBI says the men turned themselves in to agents at a checkpoint on a road near the refuge.
As with the eight others arrested a day earlier, officials say these men will face one federal felony count of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats.
FBI officials say they are working around the clock to empty the refuge of armed occupiers in the safest way possible.
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The FBI is in active negotiations with militants inside the compound to bring closure to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge standoff. Law enforcement officials, speaking on background, said some militants have left already, but they were not able to confirm to OPB who those militants were at this time.
Their exodus followed calls by incarcerated leader Ammon Bundy to give up the occupation Wednesday.
“To those remaining at the refuge, I love you. Let us take this fight from here. Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. This fight is ours for now in the courts. Please go home,” Bundy said through a statement released by his attorney.
Bundy’s statement came after he appeared in federal court in Portland to face charges associated with the occupation.
Speaking with OPB Wednesday night, militant David Fry said five people remained in the occupied refuge. He said that he personally had no plans to leave at this time.
When asked about Bundy’s call to leave the refuge, Fry simply said, “We have new leaders now and new plans.”
An armed group of militants, led by Ammon Bundy, took over the wildlife refuge Jan. 2, following a protest over the sentencing of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. At the height of the occupation, their numbers reached dozens.
The leaders of the occupation, including
Ammon and Ryan Bundy, were arrested Tuesday afternoon, and one militant — Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum — was killed during the arrest operation.