I saw the author on CSPAN’s Book TV last month and found her interesting enough to purchase her book. When the book arrived, I opened it at random and began browsing. Coincidentally, I opened to something that I’m familiar with – the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident. Unfortunately, the first paragraph I read was startling in its inaccuracy and I can’t recommend this book to anyone unless you have the time to fact check every page.
I’d like to believe this is just sloppy research on the author’s part and not part of her agenda in pushing a false narrative, but…
Here’s the text from the paperback version, the last paragraph on page 197. I’ve numbered each sentence.
“(1) On August 21, 1992, the Weaver’s Labrador retriever sensed intruders – federal marshals conducting routine reconnaissance of the mountaintop. (2) The dog ran toward the strangers, followed by Randy Weaver, Kevin Harris, and Sammy Weaver. (3) The marshals shot the dog, and the separatists returned fire, Harris killing marshal William Degan. (4) Marshals returned fire, killing Sammy Weaver with a shot in the back. (5) Randy Weaver and Harris placed his body in the birthing shed and took cover in the cabin. (6) They kept the rest of the agents pinned down with gunfire until nightfall, when the agents had to be rescued.”
(1) This wasn’t “routine reconnaissance.” There were two groups of three marshals that day, and one of their objectives was to locate and kill the dogs to avoid future detection. The dog didn’t just “sense” intruders – the marshals lured the dog out by throwing stones at the cabin. The surviving marshals testified to this during the trial.
(2) This sentence implies that all three were together during the confrontation – that’s wrong. The three “separatists” separated with Kevin Harris and Sammy Weaver going one way and Randy Weaver going another. Randy Weaver encountered the marshals and fled back to the cabin yelling for the others to flee as well. Coming from another direction, Kevin and Sammy ran into the marshals (dressed in camouflaged gear and not identifying themselves as LEOs) and saw their dog shot and killed.
(3) “Returned fire” is somewhat misleading. If I remember correctly, Sammy Weaver fired 1-2 shots; Kevin Harris claimed he fired only one shot as he fled after Sammy was killed. It also is unclear that Harris killed Degan – the possibility exists that he was killed by friendly fire – this was also testified to at the trial.
(4) OK, this sentence is accurate enough, although Sammy Weaver had already been shot in the arm and was running away when he was killed.
(5) This sentence implies that everything occurred contemporaneously. It didn’t. Randy Weaver returns to the cabin and is met there by Kevin Harris who tells him that his son is dead. Later that same day, Randy Weaver, Harris, and Vicki Weaver return to the shooting site (there’s no marshals there at that time) and remove Sammy’s body to the birthing shed – and then, yes, they return to the cabin.
(6) This is the most egregious misstatement in this whole paragraph. The remaining two agents may have had to be “rescued”, but no other shots were fired at LEOs by anyone up on Ruby Ridge after that first exchange of gunfire. The marshals lied about being pinned down for hours and taking sniper fire. Their lies set the stage for the government response and the FBI shootings that happen the next day. That the remaining five marshals were not “pinned down” is also part of the trial testimony and backed by physical evidence collected at the scene – there is no doubt this sentence is completely false and the author should know that.
- Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account