By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
At least one of the armed protesters occupying a federal refuge in Oregon said he is prepared to die before being arrested, NBC News reports.
Today is the fifth day of the standoff at the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
The FBI is trying to resolve the impasse without violence.
But one occupier, LaVoy Finicum, said he “absolutely” would rather be killed than arrested.
“I have no intention of spending any of my days in a concrete box,” he said.
“There are things more important than your life and freedom is one of them,” he said. “I’m prepared to defend freedom.”
But Finicium, a Mormon rancher from Arizona with 11 children, suggested Tuesday that he hopes the standoff ends soon because “I need to get home.”
“I got cows that are scattered and lost.”
