Memorial held in honor of slain Oregon occupier

OLYMPIA — The group Liberty for All held a memorial over the weekend for LaVoy Finicum, the armed militia member who was killed by Oregon State Police. The memorial took place on the steps of the Legislative Building. Maria Bosworth, of Liberty for All, said she only planned it a week before.

Boswell called Finicum a dear friend. “We stand for what he did and what he believed in, we wanted to show him our respect,” Boswell said about her group deciding to hold the memorial.

The memorial included singing, poetry reading, bagpipe playing, and speakers who showed their support of Finicum. One of the speakers was Jimi O’Hagan, who said he met Finicum while visiting Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. O’Hagan, of Grayland, Wash., spent over a week at the refuge.

O’Hagan said he visited the refuge after seeing the occupation in the news. “I went down to see if I could help,” he said. O’Hagan said he also spoke to FBI officials in Oregon to try and resolve the issue in a peaceful way.

Many of the attendees carried firearms, but some of them just carried helium balloons. The attendees released the balloons in Finicum’s honor toward the end of the event. An American flag was folded in the ceremonial triangle to be sent to Finicum’s family.

An Oregon trooper shot and killed Finicum after a traffic stop, in which Finicum appeared to attempt to drive around a roadblock. FBI officials said Finicum was shot after he had reached for his gun in his jacket.

— Staff report