Siege at Ruby Ridge (1992)

An eleven-day siege at Ruby Ridge in Boundary County, Idaho, began on 21 August 1992 when deputies of the US Marshals Service attempted to apprehend and arrest Randy Weaver – a former US Army Green Beret – under a bench warrant after he failed to appear on firearms charges.

During their reconnaissance of the Weaver property, the six US Marshals – dressed in military camouflage and equipped with night-vision goggles and M16 rifles – threw two rocks at the Weaver cabin to test the reaction of the family’s dogs.

The action provoked the dogs, and Weaver’s friend, Kevin Harris, and Weaver’s 14-year-old son, Sammy, emerged and followed their dog – a yellow Labrador Retriever named “Striker” – through the woods to investigate.

When the Marshals’ position was revealed by the dog, Deputy Art Roderick shot the dog dead. Seeing this, Sammy Weaver reportedly shouted, “You’ve killed my dog, you son of a bitch!” and then shot in the direction of Roderick.

Deputy Larry Cooper then shot towards Sammy Weaver and Kevin Harris, who both sought cover. Harris returned fire with one unaimed shot, which killed Deputy Bill Degan. Sammy Weaver, now retreating up a hill, was shot in the back and killed by Cooper.

In the subsequent siege of the Weaver residence – led by the FBI Hostage Rescue Team – Weaver’s wife, Vicki, was killed by FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi (while she was holding their 10-month-old baby, Elisheba).

The siege and standoff were ultimately resolved by civilian negotiators, and Harris surrendered and was arrested on 30 August, while Weaver and his three daughters surrendered the next day.

Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris were subsequently arraigned on various federal criminal charges, including first-degree murder for the death of Degan. Harris was acquitted of all charges, and Weaver was acquitted of all charges except for the original bail condition violation for the firearms charges and for having missed his original court date.

He was fined $10,000 and sentenced to eighteen months in prison, credited with time served plus an additional three months, and released after sixteen months.

During the federal criminal trial of Weaver and Harris, Weaver’s attorney, Gerry Spence, made accusations of criminal wrongdoing against the agencies involved in the incident, in particular the FBI, the US Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), and the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) for Idaho.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility formed the Ruby Ridge Task Force (RRTF) to investigate Spence’s charges.

Both the Weaver family and Harris also brought civil suits against the federal government over the firefight and siege. The Weavers won a combined out-of-court settlement in August 1995 of $3.1 million. After numerous appeals, Harris was awarded a $380,000 settlement in September 2000.

Along with the botched Waco siege in 1993 – during which 76 besieged members of the religious group the Branch Davidians died – Ruby Ridge badly damaged the credibility of the Clinton-era FBI and boosted some emerging narratives on the far right – that the feds were coming for the guns and property of those, like Weaver, who wanted no further contact with a country they saw as irredeemably corrupt.

In 1997, E Michael Kahoe, who had helped supervise the FBI’s response, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for burying documents critical of the agency’s approach to the siege ahead of the prosecution of Weaver and Harris.

Also in 1997, the Boundary County prosecutor indicted FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for the manslaughter of Vicki Weaver. The case was moved to federal court and dismissed because of the supremacy clause. The US Court of Appeals ruled in 2001 that Horiuchi could be tried on state charges, but new county prosecutor, Brett Benson, controversially dismissed the case, saying it was unlikely the state would be able to prove the criminal charges.

A CBS miniseries about the siege – Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy – aired on 19th and 21st May 1996 and starred Laura Dern as Vicki, Kirsten Dunst as Sara, and Randy Quaid as Randy. Later that year, the television series was adapted as a full-length TV movie, The Siege at Ruby Ridge.

Randy Weaver died on 11 May 2022, aged 74.