Militants Say Negotiations With FBI Stall At Malheur Refuge

By OPB Staff

Published January 29, 2016 at 1:53 PM PST

OPB obtained audio of a conversation Friday morning from one of the four remaining occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

The remaining militants inside are David Fry of Blanchester, Ohio, husband and wife Sean and Sandy Anderson of Janesville, Wisconsin, and Jeff Banta of Elko, Nevada.

During the conversation, Sean Anderson said the group is not going to negotiate with the FBI at this time, and they are prepared to wait until all their supplies are depleted.

He also said that the militants don't plan to shoot at law enforcement unless they are shot at first.

According to the conversation and other details obtained from Fry's family members, a deal with the FBI seemed to be in place Thursday, but it required Sean Anderson to turn himself in to the police. His wife, Sandy, refused to leave him.

Fry and Banta were said to have accepted the negotiated deal, but because of Sandy Anderson's refusal, the four made a pact to stay together until the end of the standoff.

In a new video released Friday, Fry said he and the other militants were testing the negotiation boundaries when they asked the FBI to be released without charges.

"I wanted to see how flexible the FBI was. Could they make it possible for all of us to get out of here without charges?" Fry said in the video. "Obviously, that's not going to happen."

Fry also brought up the idea of being pardoned if he and the other militants were arrested. He said if the militants were pardoned, they would go home.

The FBI, according to the militants, is prepared to wait them out if necessary, and negotiations are not moving forward at this time.

Uncage The Soul

After hiking to the top of the 100-foot waterfall, the scouting team looked down and discovered a second waterfall from a separate stream converging at the same spot. Jared Smith and John Waller scrambled down the steep hillside to the base of these falls and named the place “Shangri-La.”

<p>The safety and rigging team Jared Smith, left, and Mike Williams, right, stand below NE falls nicknamed "Shangri-La."</p> — The safety and rigging team Jared Smith, left, and Mike Williams, right, stand below NE falls nicknamed "Shangri-La."