Hate American Made ////// Ruby Ridge | Forensic Files

by an unspeakable act eight the apocalypse would occur soon more white supremacist groups more anti-government
groups David KES Ruby Ridge Siege Timothy McVey more than 80 people dead bombed a
federal building in Oklahoma City eight by an unspeakable act there is so little
hope left the standoff at Ruby Ridge was in August 1992 Siege of a modest cabin belonging to the Weaver
family in boundary County Idaho it is said to have been the spark that ignited the American extremist far right-wing
militia movement it gained momentum in the 1990s when over 100 government officials
swarmed the Mountaintop Retreat of a family of three adults and four children to evaluate the supposed threat
they posed unimaginable chaos and bloodshed would ensue after an 11-day Siege three people
would be dead including a child and a law enforcement officer two more would be wounded a
family would be shattered and a community would be outraged and scarred this incident along with the
tragic events at Waco Texas which would occur the following year would be the Catalyst of an ongoing movement
comprised of extremist militia groups which include among others survivalist nationalist white separatist
neo-nazis and white supremacists all who continue to view themselves as Defenders of traditional
freedoms against perceived government oppression it is worth considering that if the events at Ruby Ridge in Waco had
been more effectively handled by those in charge America could be shaped quite differently today this is the standoff
at Ruby Ridge and this is true CME [Music] [Music] garage Randall Claude Weaver commonly
known as Randy was born on January 3 1948 he grew up in the small conservative religious farming community
of valisa Iowa as one of four children to Wilma and Clarence Clarence was a feed salesman growing up Randy and his
siblings were exposed to a variety of Christian fundamentalist teachings as the Weaver parents explored many
different sects within the Christian faith while trying to determine the proper fit for their family although the
Weaver family was undoubtedly religious and could be described as conservative Evangelical Christians they
would not be viewed as extremist or radical Randy attended Jefferson High School where he excelled in sports
particularly football and baseball Vicky Weaver was born Victoria Jean jordanson
on June 20th 1949 and grew up on a farm near Fort Dodge Iowa she too came from a
Conservative Christian religious background her family were members of the reorganized Church of Jesus Christ
of the latterday Saints Vicky's family frowned upon drinking or swearing but they were not extreme fundamentalist
zealots just God-fearing residents of their small town farming Community known for her gentle and creative nature Vicki
enjoyed making crafts and was particularly skilled at sewing she was also an active member of the 4H Club
following his graduation from Jefferson High School in 1966 Randy attended Iowa Central
Community College for a few years then in 1968 he left College to enlist in the armed forces against the divisive and
turbulent backdrop of the Vietnam War and folding overseas Randy found himself stationed at Fort Bragg in North
Carolina much to his disappointment nevertheless he excelled as a soldier gaining significant skills in training
many sources reference him as a former Green Beret though the exact timeline of his association with that Elite unit
remains uncertain in 1970 while on leave and visiting his hometown Randy reconnected with Vicky Jean jordison a
former College girlfriend of his so similarly raised in fundamentalist Christian households the couple's
relationship quickly became serious Randy and Vicky married in November of 1971 in a ceremony at the First
Congressional Church in Fort Dodge Iowa a month prior on October 8th Randy had been honorably discharged from the Army
at the rank of Sergeant convinced that this ongoing Strife is a sign that end times are coming Vicki's beliefs had
made a hard right turn as she delved deeper into the Bible anticipating the apocalypse sharing these increasingly
extreme fundamentalist Christian beliefs with Randy she speaks of a reoccurring Vision that she is having she prophesies
that their family will only be safe if they leave Iowa and build a house on a hill which she envisions as their
glorious Mountaintop Retreat it is here where they will be protected from the what she would eventually refer to as
Zog the Zionist organized government or as she would put it a Jewish run government and the corrupt
civilization in which they were currently existing well that's a lot to uh take in
mhm we're fighting for God against Zog but we're also afraid of God an Zog yes increasingly influenced by Vicky's
zealotry and a steadily progressing mistrust of the government Randy joins his wife in her radical views the couple
become full-blown religious extremists convinced that the biblical end times are near now serious about bringing
Vicki's Vision into reality Randy begins accumulating in guns and weapons as he believes he will need these guns and
weapons to eventually keep his family safe when the end times begin yeah so in preparation of this now survivalist
lifestyle Vicki began studying farming and gardening techniques to become self-sufficient and Randy began amassing
weapons to protect his family now fully convinced of impending doom biblical end times and harboring a deep
mounting mistrust of the federal government the Weaver family relocated to the state of Idaho this in
1983 they settled in boundary County Purchasing a property for $5,000 located on an isolated beautiful Hilltop in the
sil Kirk mountains overlooking Ruby Creek then in 1984 Randy with his own hands built home
this was a small but well-built cabin construction constructed of plywood and scrap lumber on Ruby Ridge adding
several out buildings on their 20 acre property after completing the main structure the family eagerly embraced a
survivalist lifestyle growing vegetables homeschooling the children and Es skewing taxes and other types of
governmental interference see I can get behind some of this stuff hey let's get 20 20 acres sounds good to me I would
love 20 acres let's build our Dreamhouse sure on a Hilltop I would love that let's let's name it Ruby Ridge that's
great I even like the collecting of the guns well you know to each their own I was going to say hey we're going to have
our own garden oh grow own fruits and vegetables mhm now homeschooling kids that seems like a nightmare but I guess
if you're far enough out I recently planted an apple tree in the backyard so maybe I'm on my way you're on your way
you're just going to have to start having visions of the end time and Es sking taxes again like I said all these
guys are idiots because they should know the end times are going to happen and pawy and we got to look out for the the
lizard Lord zorp Randy had even included what he referred to as a 300 yard radius
air quotes kills Zone on the property and look this is not the kind of thing you want to start telling your
neighbors but he told locals that anyone breaching his 300 yard radius Kill Zone
would suffer the consequences of death in the late 80s and early 90s in the rural area a lot of
rural areas but included in this is boundary County where they are living there was an Emer urging movement of
anti-governmental sentiment leading to the formation of various survivalist Nationalist and militia groups the law
of the land in this region was the boundary County sheriff with locals persistently ignoring Federal and even
State decrees Randy and Vicki who had become increasingly extremist unapologetically identified as white
separatist as did many of their neighbors and while the Weavers didn't consider themselves to be white
supremacists or members of the Aryan Nation they weren't necessarily opposed to mingling with them at local
Gatherings now the Weavers moved up and set up their family cabin and camp at what was called Ruby rid
sometime later the family takes in a young man named Kevin Harris he's a teenager at the time who had experienced
a rough upbringing and a deeply troubled home life but it didn't seem like they were trying to build a community really
it seemed like they wanted to have their own land and you can see how some of these people start diving into this we
have the IRS there is no law that states an individual has to pay taxes but they
can put you in jail if you don't pay taxes and then property taxes I think a lot of people find to be a joke because
you own the property you own the house and you're forced to pay a tax on something you already own and in many
places if you make improvements to that property you have to pay additional taxes yeah so the nicer I make it the
more I have to pay you but I own the land that's why my place is a real [ __ ] hole that's why that's why I go around
and break [ __ ] all the time the county auditor is listening my place is a dumb
it's a real dumb but I do have that apple tree so but so you can see how and then if
you have your own land like 20 acres you don't want anybody you don't want the sheriff for you're not buying those 20
acres to have a HOA fee they really wanted to live out there build their family and be left alone is really my
feel of this whole situation now as for bringing in this teenager with the deeply troubled upbringing right uh this
to me just appears to be a good deed so this kid Kevin Harris teenager at the time when he kind of gets taken under
the wing of Randy Weaver so this guy his father had died when he was only two years old and Kevin's young mother was
unable to cope with raising children without the father being there right so this kid is rudderless and he is growing
into his teenage years and he starts to get in trouble and he starts to struggle
with things like drugs so Randy met Kevin through friends in the mid 80s and his heart went out to
this fatherless young man and Kevin was seeking a positive influence but also the the family
probably needed extra help for what they were trying to build possibly but my understanding here is that the early
part of this relationship there were no like formal arrang Ms that were made that Kevin Harris had free access to
come and stay at the property when he chose to do so right coming and going as he pleased but eventually he will
basically move in with the Weaver family and then as this relationship carries on
he's ultimately viewed as a member of the household now I wish I could tell you that they lived a quiet life didn't
bother anyone and nobody bothered them but that wasn't the case Ruby Ridge was up on a hillside above Ruby Creek
opposite Caribou Ridge which was another property now in 1984 Randy Weaver and one of his
neighbors this is Terry Kennison had a dispute over a $3,000 land deal Kennis lost the ensuing lawsuit and on top of
the $3,000 kenis was ordered to pay Randy we Beav an additional $2,100 in court cost and
damages so this neighbor Terry Kennison was now into Randy Weaver for $5,100 and I've got to believe that this
was some sort of retaliation but what the neighbor did was he started writing letters to the
FBI the Secret Service and the county sheriff alleging that Randy Weaver had openly
threatened to kill Pope John Paul II President Ronald Reagan and the governor of Idaho in
1985 the FBI and the Secret Service decided to launch investigations into these allegations that Randy Weaver had
made threats against Ronald Reagan and other government officials well we know that the Weavers have land and we also
know that he's collecting firearms and thus if these threats are real if he did make them
then you have to take them seriously in February of ' 85 the Weavers were interviewed by FBI agents Secret Service
agents and the boundary County Sheriff the Secret Service had been told that the that Randy Weaver was a member of
Aryan Nations and that he had a large cash of firearms at his residence but like you said they that connection
wasn't true because they weren't white supremists but maybe they just dealt with
other I don't I don't see that's a troubling thing with this story so you could you could look at it a couple
different ways where people on the outside that didn't know Randy Weaver and didn't know the family I think you
could easily believe that maybe he was a member of the Aryan Nations or other other extremist groups because
from the outside it might give the appearance of such because he is associating with people that are members
of these other groups right now if you knew him real well then you might just go well he he just happens to know these
people and he's friendly with these people now I I also want and I don't want every resident of the great state
of Idaho to come after yours truly here but if you go back in time and especially in this region there were a
lot of people that were involved in those types of groups or associated with people that were involved with those
groups so this is not like a a an incredibly rare thing here in that area at the time well and sometimes with
these extremist groups in your community you might not agree with anything that they believe in but by going against
them all you're causing is trouble for yourself well and here is something that's not going to look favorably upon
Randy Weaver and his family so Weaver denies that he's a member of the ARA Nation
or any of these extremist groups when he's interviewed by the different government agencies he also denies the
allegations that he has a large cache of firearms and again that's a pretty general term where it's open for
interpretation right your opinion of a large arsenal of firearms might be different than my opinion of a large
arsenal of firearms where some people might say oh that guy's got he's got like eight or nine guns that's a great
big collection to some people that's a huge collection and to gun collectors that's not even a real collection at all
yeah I and I know this being a guitar collector I mean for some people they they see a handful of my guitars and
they go you have a problem and I go you haven't seen the other room yet now what
they could determine was that on at least three or four occasions the Weavers did attend Aryan
Nations meetings at Hayden Lake Idaho remember Hayden Lake Idaho is location that we talked about when we covered
Richard Snell and those late night meetings that were reportedly going on about attempting to wanting to overthrow
the government and Destroy large Federal buildings so no doubt if they're attending these let's say meetings I'm
I'm going to use air quotes here to say meetings right because these could simply be Gatherings and this could be
simply their way of socializing I know know that sounds very strange it's not a place that I would ever choose to
socialize in but this is not Hayden Lake Idaho it's it's difficult to say what their intentions are in attending these
meetings or if they're just they're just Gathering and socializing the rumor was
that they brewed a mean cup of coffee and had great cheese danishes well and but I think it's also very easy for one
to see this observe this activity or be made aware of this activity and go well these guys are extremist right th this
they could be a violent militia type the investigation did note that Randy Weaver
associated with members of the Covenant The Sword and the arm of the Lord Randy and Vicky Weaver filed an affidavit with
the county courthouse alleging that their personal enemies were plotting to provoke the FBI into attacking and maybe
even killing the Weaver family basically they're saying this this guy made all this stuff up claimed that we made all
these horrible threats against these people in power and now we're being investigated and really we've not done
any of this activity this guy is just full-on revenge against us and my family right on May 6th of that same year the
Weaver sent President Ronald Reagan a letter claiming that their enemies may have sent Reagan a threatening letter
forging Randy's signature years later in 1992 the prosecutor cited the 1985 letter as an overt Act of the Weaver
family conspiracy against the federal government now we have the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms the ATF
they first become aware of Randy Weaver and his family in July of 1986 when he was introduced to a confidential ATF
informant at a meeting at the world Aryan Congress the informant portrayed himself as a weapons dealer working with
motorcycle gangs over the next couple of years Weaver and this informant they did
meet several times and in July of 1989 Randy Weaver invited this informant to his home to discuss forming a group
to fight the Zionist organized government or Zog referring to the United States government in October of '
89 the ATF claimed that Weaver sold the informant two saloff shotguns with an overall length of the
guns shorter than the limit set by the federal law so the ATF is saying we did a sting
operation this guy was dumb enough to sell some illegal Firearms to our officer who was undercover So Randy
Weaver was indicted for making and possessing illegal Firearms this is now 1990 do note though he wasn't charged with
selling them just charged with making and possessing illegal firearms on February 5th 1991 Randy Weaver's trial
date was changed and this could be really a huge Domino here Captain this could be
something that that really started the fire well we know it wasn't Billy Joe Randy Weaver's trial date was changed to
February 20th the clerk of courts sent letters to different parties to inform them of the date change of Randy
Weaver's court appearance however for whatever reason they didn't send a letter directly to Randy Weaver they
sent a letter to his representation so now the representation is in charge of informing Randy Weaver
that the court date has changed to February 20th right when Randy Weaver receives correspondence telling him of
the date change the letter he receives erroneously says that Randy Weaver's trial date was March 20th 1 month
[Music] later you all know what speed dating is right well if you're the owner of a
growing business what if there was a feature like speed dating only for hiring in other words you could meet
several interested qualified candidates at once all at a designated time well there's good news because there is such
a service it's called zip intro from zip recruiter you can post your job today and start talking to qualified
candidates tomorrow zip intro gives you the power to quickly assess excellent candidates for your job via backtack
video calls you simply pick a time and zip intro does all of the work of finding and scheduling qualified
candidates for you then you can choose who you want to talk to and meet with great people as soon as the next day
it's so easy enjoy the benefits of speed hiring with new zip intro only from zip
recruiter rated number one hiring site based on G2 try zip intro for free at ziprecruiter.com garage again that's zip
recruiter.com garage zip intro post jobs today talk to qualified candidates tomorrow did you know fast growing trees
is the biggest online Nursery in the US with thousands of different plants and over 2 million happy customers I'm one
of those happy customers fast growing trees has all the plants your yard needs from fruit trees to shrubs find the
perfect fit for your climate and space then order online for fast delivery their alive and Thrive guarantee ensures
healthy arrival and their plant experts are available to help with planning selection and care this is why I love
fast growing trees they're plant experts I have a very shady backyard everything
I planted didn't Thrive they were able to tell me what would work best in my space and climate and when your yard is
looking good it makes you feel good this spring they have the best deals for your
yard up to half off on select plants and other deals and listeners of our show get 15% off their first purchase when
using Code garage at checkout that's additional 15% off at fastgrowingtrees.com using the code garage at checkout
fastgrowingtrees.com code garage now's the perfect time to plant use Garage to save today offer is
valid for a limited time terms and conditions May apply check out fastgrowingtrees.com and use promo code
garage today if you're a pet parent you know about chewy and when they say they have
everything you need to keep your pet happy and healthy they're not messing around chewy has over 100,000 products
from all of the brands your pet loves at prices you love and with Chewy's auto ship feature you'll never get that I'm
so disappointed in you look from your pet you can set up reoccurring shipments of all of the essentials you use so
you're never running out and can change or cancel your Auto ship order at any time it's super convenient and one less
thing you have to worry about chewy has everything you need to keep your pet happy and healthy and right now you can
save $20 on your first order and get free shipping by going to chewy.com or by clicking the link in the description
below that's chewy.com to save $20 on your first order with free shipping chewy.com minimum purchase required new
customers only terms and conditions apply C site for complete details do you say data or D data
however you say it it's time to stop overpaying for your monthly data plan with mintmobile Ditch overpriced
Wireless and get 3 months of Premium wireless service from mintmobile for 15 bucks a month all plans come with
high-speed data or data your choice and unlimited talk and text delivered on the
nation's largest 5G Network I love mintmobile I'm getting the same high-speed data and data that I was
getting with my old service provider plus I'm getting unlimited talk and text delivered on this great 5G Network it's
everything that I was paying a lot more for in the past at a fraction of the price currently I'm saving almost $20 a
month with mintmobile no matter how you say it don't overpay for it shop data plans mintmobile.com
TCG that's mintmobile.com TCG upfront payment of $45 for 3 months 5 gbyte plan required
equivalent to $15 a month new customer offer for first 3 months only then full price plan options available taxes and
fees extra see mintmobile for details check out mintmobile.com TCG today all right we are back talk hands in the
air cheers to you Colonel cheers to you captain now look you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes here to figure out since
they told him the wrong date one month later Randy Weaver did not show up to court on February
20th and this started the next Domino which they put out a Ben warrant for Randy Weaver and his failure to appear
in court around the same time in early 1991 this is kind of throwing gasoline on the fire there was a letter that was
sent to the US attorney in early 1991 from the Weaver family specifically Vicky Weaver ry's wife and in the letter
Vicki promised that they meaning the Weaver family quote will not bow to your evil Commandments whether we live or
whether we die end quote not really a threat but it sounds quite threatening yeah now because he failed to appear in
court this gets the US Marshal Service involved in the whole situation they were now responsible to arrest and bring
in Randy Weaver but they're checking up and asking around about him and the Intel that they're getting is telling
them that the Weavers had a lot of guns and that they were incredibly hostile that they would not be Randy Weaver
would not be taken easily so the US Marshals brought in the services Special Operations group to
watch and surveil the Weavers now I found this incredibly strange and odd here captain that all this talk in fear
of Zog yeah but the Marshall service they do abbreviate the services Special Operations group as
SOG so while Vicky Weaver was having all these visions and dreams that her family
needs to be afraid of Z and and and and hide out in the hills and live a survivalist lifestyle I found it very
strange that it wasn't Z that was coming for them it was some form of Z if you will I'm just kind of tongue and cheek
saying that but it was sogg that ultimately would be coming after the Weavers no and I I believe in this stuff
I believe especially people that have recurring dreams it it becomes well did you have the reoccurring dreams because
something bad was going to happen or did the reoccurring dreams help fa facilitate the bad thing happening speak
of the devil and he shall appear right you know and I believe that I believe if you if you're
negative you're going to attract uh negativity if you're positive you'll attract
positivity that's why we say be good and be be kind that's right good vibes in the garage Good Vibes brother it's easy
when you got a lot of beer yeah all right or other stuff so we talked briefly about the Marshall service the
US Marshall service surveilling the Weavers which they did for the better part of 1992 gathering information on
the Family plus the family friend Kevin Harris who was living on the property with the Weaver family yeah but my
problem with this whole scenario is it doesn't seem like any members of the Weavers have like a criminal history and
the father like you said he he served in Vietnam right no I I don't believe he was ever called to action he enlisted
while Vietnam was ongoing but either way he's he's a he attempted to serve his country yeah
yeah well I mean you serve your country once you sign up whether you serve u in just a department or at a a base locally
or you you actually fight in a war you're still serving your country yes you can be called at any time so do you
think it's just these quote unquote he said she said threats well let's review this because this is you're sharing a
lot of what I am feeling about this part of the story yeah so what you have here
is there's mounting pressure for the federal agents to take some form of action so at some point they're going to
decide to make a move now on August 17th 1992 us Marshalls SOG team gathered at Sandpoint Idaho to establish a command
post this up on the on the sweetzer mountain the intention was to more closely survey the family to assess
their Threat Level to the public over the next few months agencies considered various plans to coule Randy to
surrender it was important to remember that Randy's only offenses were selling two modified shotguns and failing to
appear in court so this reaction so Overkill seemed ludicrously disproportionate considering Randy was
not a d dangerous arms dealer he was simply a religious zealot with a belief in white separatism and a deep mistrust
of the federal government yeah but don't you think that law enforcement could have just made contact with him and to
say Hey you missed your your trial date your court date yes because if they would have just made contact and they
didn't have to make contact to him directly they could have made contact to his lawyer it's an overreaction is an
understatement and but beyond that there are things that the the Weavers are also
doing things that don't I mean they're not paying their taxes right they're they're doing things that don't that are
suggestive that they are what the the government agencies fear that they are right but but by having that fear you
could sometimes see things that aren't there exactly now they're going to decide to
make their move this the US Marshals due to favorable weather conditions on August 21st the sog team members
proceeded up the mountain toward the Weaver cabin to confront the family of three adults and four children agents
were heavily armed with M16 rifles a sniper rifle a shotgun and a suppressed 9mm Colt carbine along with their
personal service weapons in the early hours of August 21st 1992 the so team armed and camouflaged approached the
Weaver's cabin on Ruby Ridge they proceeded further up the mountain trail to a fork in the woods and decided to
split into two thre man teams so they got a a unit of six going up there now they're going to split into two thre man
teams one group is called the observation post op they went left to set up surveillance about half a mile
from the structure in which the Weaver family is living the cabin meanwhile the Recon or reconnaissance
team they were going to approach the cabin from the right side but stopping about 250 to 300 yard from the Weaver
driveway at approximately 10:15 a.m. the teams have exchanged information but they captured the attention of the
family dog so they they got to their positions where they wanted to be positioned they've radioed each other to
let them know hey we're we're all in position here but while this is going on the dogs the
Weaver's dogs are now aware that there's movement on the property dogs don't typ
typically like that they tend to start barking and making a lot of noise which alerted ultimately alerted Randy and
Kevin and Randy's son Sammy to the presence of someone the US Marshals being on their property so Randy decides
to go in One Direction sending Kevin and Sammy led by the Weaver yellow lab named
Striker off in a different direction so Kevin and the son Sammy and the dog they run off to where the Recon team had
positioned themselves this is going to start a confrontation both groups are armed now I cannot say this loudly
enough there are conflicting reports on who fired the first shot right I don't know that we've ever figured out who
fired the first shot but you want to talk about domino effect this is a one hell of a domino here
somebody fired a shot I don't know if it's a a man thing or mainly a man thing but had a lot of friends growing up
where we're like hey you know it would be great to have 5 Acres or 10 acres and I always thought one of the bonuses of
of having land was whoever's there should be there and whoever and people that aren't supposed to be there you
know very quickly like we in a neighborhood if somebody walks through your neighbor's yard you don't you know
right away you might not know if it's the neighbor or if it's the neighbor son or it's is it a family friend you know
what I mean but if you own a bunch of land and somebody is on your property at night you know they're not supposed to
be there and so you have this situation where you have law enforcement coming up
on a a family that in their eyes they've done nothing wrong he hasn't missed a court Dee in his eyes and he doesn't
know that they're being surveilled by law enforcement so this is a tricky situation because if somebody's showing
up to your property armed with fatigues on you would think on some level he has the right to protect himself and protect
his family he he does have some awareness that they're being watched because the US Marshals were what they
were initially hoping for is for the Randy weaver or the Weaver family to come down the mountain to
them and surrender right they didn't want to have to go up the mountain but at some point they they decided we got
to do something I'm skipping over some stuff intentionally because there there was a lot going on in behind the scenes
if you will during the course of this US Marshals want to bring him in on a bench
warant and Randy Weaver doesn't want to come down the hill right and and on top of that you have the nasty neighbor who
likely set a lot of this [ __ ] into motion to begin with who is still continuing to throw Randy Weaver and his
family under the bus M making additional claims about them while they're essentially hold up
in their cabin right regardless this is where we find ourselves with this confrontation that's about to go down
and again with conflicting reports later accounts of this incident would vary law
enforcement maintaining that they had identified themselves as US government agents they also claimed that Kevin
Harris fired the first shot hitting Marshall Degan who would later die as a result Marshall
Cooper one another member of this three-man team position there the Recon team returned fire hitting Kevin
meanwhile Marshall rodri unsure of who fired first shot the dog striker fearing that it might the dog might
attack or further reveal their position right now seeing his dog shot of course anybody's going to react to that
especially a boy Sammy Weaver fired shots at the Marshall shouting you son of a [ __ ] you killed my dog Randy
Weaver remember he's elsewhere he's positioning himself elsewhere in the chaos he starts firing his handgun into
the air and instructing his son shouting at his son Sammy to go home so Sammy responds that I'm coming dad you know or
I'm going to go home but he is fatally wounded in this gunfire that continues back and forth a short time after the
gunfire subsided the shattered Weaver parents retrieved the lifeless body of their 14-year-old son Samy and
transported him to one of their out buildings right grieving their loss the family took refuge in the cabin Randy
and Kevin's account of the incident would differ from that of law enforcement they insisted that the
marshals did not identify themselves and that the government fired the shots first killing the dog and then setting
off a chain reaction of deadly events the following day multiple federal agencies descended upon the scene with
armored tanks helicopters and personnel carriers yeah don't bring a shotgun to a tank fight no
this is this is really starting to look like a small family who's now facing a full-on army so essentially they set up
a military encampment at the base of Ruby Ridge this with hundreds of federal agents they had hostage negotiators
state police and military personnel meanwhile anti-government demonstrators began gathering in support of the Weaver
family as great locals and other supporters of the Weavers protested near the roadblock they were angrily calling
for government to for the government to stop their interference into the business of private citizens news crews
and media Outlets set up the base of Ruby Ridge to capture every minute of this standoff during this time the FBI's
hostage rescue team who had been called into assist submitted a proposed revision to the FBI standard Rules of
Engagement this amendment would allow agents to use deadly force to neutralize any perceived Threat by an adult
observed to be carrying a weapon so this is different from their standard rules of engagement standard rules had
restricted the use of deadly force only in the event an agent or another is in is in imminent danger of death or
serious bodily harm this seems like extreme here however if you're if you really want to analyze
this situation and dissect it really all the FBI is doing in this moment is they're they're they're lifting this a
little bit because they they don't want their agents and people there to be involved in and have to assess the
situation one of the US Marshals was already killed right and to me that's once that agent is killed that's your
assess then you make your then you assess the situation it's a deadly situ period exactly that's exactly right so
now they're operating under these amended Rules of Engagement an FBI sniper but is the family firing back cuz
it just seems like they retreated and there's no fire coming and we have no fire coming from the father he shot his
gun up in the air yeah and this is the following day so essentially this is like a ceasefire without either side
telling each other they're not going to be shooting at each other right but I mean this situ is horrible the
kid's dead and Marshall's dead the dog's dead yeah but it it's it's not going to
get any better so now operating under these amended Rules of Engagement an FBI sniper positioned about 200 yards from
the Weaver cabin fired two shots so keep in mind this sniper not only is not in threat of
imminent danger or death or seriously B bodily harm this FB I sniper 200 yard away from the Weaver cabin likely was
even undetected right by the Weavers or Kevin Harris or anybody there so he fires Two Shots the first shot wounded
Randy Weaver that very likely was a goal of theirs the second shot was intended for Kevin Harris remember so now you
would have hit all three members that were engaged in gunfire with your agents right Sammy the kid's dead Kevin Harris
two fired shots and Randy Weaver the Father Dad husband of the whole Weaver family the second shot intended for
Kevin Harris struck and killed Vicky Weaver the wife mother as she stood in the doorway of their cabin holding their
10-month-old daughter Jesus and somehow you want to talk about JFK magic bullet theory this bullet strikes and kills
Vicky Weaver but eventually finding its way finding its Mark to hit Kevin after it
passed through Vicky's head Vicky's lifeless body would would lay under the kitchen table they they they pulled her
inside while the surviving family members were remain barricaded inside that same cabin in an attempt to
persuade the Weavers to surrender Federal negotiators sunk to even lower depths FBI negotiator Fred
Lanley cruy taunted the family addressing Mrs Weaver and inviting her and the children to come out and eat
pancakes these unbelievably pitless remarks directed at a Woman They surely knew was dead caused the family to break
down in tears there was a phone placed outside of the cabin door which would ring every 15 minutes and
negotiators continually scream threats through a bullhorn at the family warning that the
Weavers would die if they did not exit the cabin and come down The Negotiator reportedly continued mockingly
addressing Vicki and asking about the baby and offering help the callousness with which they treated the Weavers who
had just lost two family members to incredible and largely senseless violence is and was profoundly
disturbing by August 25th the crowds of anti-government sympathizers and supporters of the Weaver family had
grown and five armed skin heads were arrested in route to the cabin these guys were going to go up there and even
though the Weavers didn't request their assistance apparently these skin these skin heads were going to go up there and
start fighting back against the government they were arrested as the days wore on it became increasingly
evident that Randy and his daughters as well as Kevin Harris were never going to
willingly surrender as a last resort federal agents brought in BO Gertz a former
Green Beret and prominent figure who shared many of the same beliefs as the Weaver Clan federal agents hoped that
gerz would be able to persuade Randy and the remaining occupants of the cabin to
surrender peacefully before they enacted a fullscale attack on the cabin Randy eventually allowed gz to enter the cabin
and he was ultimately successful in securing ry's agreement to not only remove Vicky's body from the cabin but
to rescue Kevin Harris as well allowing the Gravely wounded young man to receive
much needed medical attention finally on August 31st Randy Weaver agreed to surrender to Federal officials and he
and his three daughters exited the cabin both Randy and Kevin were arrested Kevin
for the murder of Deputy Marshall Degan and Randy for aiding and abetting in total the men faced 10 counts including
murder aiding and abetting murder conspiracy and assault the standoff lasted 11 days I mean this is a
difficult situation because obviously horrific I don't agree with some of the thoughts or ideology of the Weavers but
it doesn't seem like they were posing any threat to the community or or to themselves and it just doesn't seem like
there was enough communication from law enforcement to Warrant this kind of or this type of surveillance or this type
of attack it's uh it's very strange it's it's horrible because you have this horrific situation where it's this
Beyond overreaction right overreaction would be an understatement yeah but hold on In fairness we don't know exactly
what information law enforcement was being fed well no that's what I'm getting to Beyond
overreaction however they believed that this family was in fact a threat to the public and a threat to government
agencies and so when every when nobody's right everybody's wrong and this situation just I mean it could have been
handled differently by all parties involved absolutely yeah and it's sad that it wasn't the Weaver case would be
prosecuted by us attorney Ron hoen and would be tried in Boise Idaho with judge Edward
Lodge and Randy and Kevin would stand trial together jury selection began on April 13th 1993 and the trial started
the very next day ultimately here Captain this trial would last about 36 Days the prosecution called a total of
56 Witnesses while the defense led by famed defense attorney Jerry Spence called zero coincidentally the trial
coincided with the violent and fiery ending to the Waco Siege and this I'll ultimately and and
for many other reasons why is forever linking both events the state's case to describe it it's been described as
chaotic with contradictory Witnesses and attempts to portray the Weavers as racist really what the prosecution wants
to put together here because you have a situation where a jury could be sympathetic to Randy Weaver and Kevin
Harris right Kevin Harris almost died Randy Weaver lost his son and his wife and his dog yeah and their home was
essentially besieged by by an army of government agencies yeah and even though I don't agree with racist beliefs and
racist thoughts or actions It's seems like a very dumb defense to say well we we're going to
say that they're they were racist but that doesn't that still doesn't justify your actions yeah the the state wants to
present these people as just bad all around like they were horrible terrible people before we went up the hill right
and the result was they were going to shoot whoever came up there it just so happened to be that it was our US
Marshals and now we've lost a US Marshal and look it wasn't a great trial again it it it appears that the trial in ways
mired the standoff where when nobody's right everybody's wrong yeah part of this too that gets lost in the sauce
here is Randy Weaver may have found himself in a whole lot of trouble because at some point he was approached
remember we mentioned gerz who girts was the guy that really put an end to the standoff he was somebody that was
friends or friendly with Randy Weaver gz was somebody that the ATF wanted to bring down okay gerz was the one that
was directly involved and a member of all of these extremist groups several of them and several of the hate groups and
he was also involved in a lot of the arms dealings from my understanding here Captain the ATF initially reached out to
Randy Weaver well before any of this mess started to try to get him to be an informant for for them for their agency
to take down girts and people like girts right but Weaver is like hey I'm not going to be a
snitch and so then you also wonder is there motivation from them to take out Weaver so he doesn't snitch on what
they're trying to do possibly but but more so what I think played out with this situation is the US Marshals were
not informed of any of this attempting to recruit Randy Weaver as an inform it and and he didn't comply right he didn't
do what they wanted him to do but he didn't get violent when they asked him if he wanted to be an informant he just
said I'm not going to be a part of this right not going to be a snitch they they
really seem like a family that had their own beliefs and didn't want to be a part
of this Society you know when I look at this case under multiple lenses one of the lenses I'm looking at it under is is
there a chance that had the marshals and other agencies this is why these agencies got to talk and communicate
more it is is there a chance that had the US Marshals known that Randy Weaver did speak with the ATF did engage and
have conversations with them just didn't comply but didn't do it in a violent manner would this thing have started off
differently right would they would they not have felt like we need to surveil this whole family for days and days and
one of the things that we were talking about off air was the idea of if you're law enforcement
and you're going to do a raid on let's say drug dealers you might have this idea you
might have some fear that they're going to put up a fight so you outman them you
outgun them you make sure that if there is a fight that uh you're going to win but when you're dealing with people
that have odd views on reality I mean even just hearing that the wife had these Visions or or dreams
that their family would be attacked then you have to wrestle with the idea of okay we can outgun them we can outman
them but are we stepping into a situation that if they're losing if the Weavers are losing do they
have some kind of system that will just blow us all up and I think that would lend to you
know that fear would lend to law enforcement agents making bad decisions and decisions out of fear well
and ultimately the public sided with the Weavers and the way that this trial played out is in agreeance with that and
is suggestive that the public did side with the Weaver so in July of 1993 we have a jury of 12 they issued their
verdict the jurors had concluded that the US Marshals were the ones who in fact fired the first
shot remember the defense called zero Witnesses the prosecution called 56 so it was all the prosecutions
witnesses and piecing together their stories that the jury concluded that it was the US Marshals that fired the first
shot right killing the dog which the jury then says set off the chain of events leading to the tragic
deaths of three people and the jury ultimately found for the defense acquitting Kevin Harris
outright on all accounts Randy Weaver was also found not guilty on all felony federal charges but
he was convicted of two minor charges failing to appear in court and violating his bail conditions so in October Randy
Weaver was sentenced to 18 months in jail however he had already served 14 months in jail while awaiting trial
right he was also fined $10,000 this verdict was a scathing pronouncement of the Public's
overwhelmingly critical perception of the federal government's abuses denouncing its use of entrapment and
manipulation to further its goals Randy served his sentence and was released on December 17th
1993 he reunited with his children who were staying with family members in Iowa the Weavers relocated to Montana where
the surviving family members filed a $300 million lawsuit against the federal government for the wrongful deaths of
Vicky and Samuel Weaver in August of 1995 the government settled the suit awarding Randy
$100,000 and $1 million each to his three remaining children 5 years later Kevin Harris received a $380,000
settlement for his pain and suffering in 1993 the government launched an investigation into the actions of
federal agents involved in the Ruby Ridge standoff to determine if any misconduct or excessive force was
used by June of 1994 the Department of Justice delivered a report condemning the agent's actions and recommending
reforms the next spring details of this 542 two-page report were leaked to the press and in the fall of 1995 Randy
Weaver testified at a US Senate Judiciary hearing about the Ruby rdge incident Randy reflected that he had
been given a second chance he would have come down the mountain to attend his court appearance thereby avoiding the
ensuing Bloodshed and horror he maintained that while he still believed in the separation of the races he
emphatically denied being a racist or white supremist in that he did not consider himself to be superior to other
races he ended by reiterating his grief and frustration over not being able to bring his wife and sons Killers to
Justice now on that front in 1997 Lon heroi the FBI sniper responsible for Vicky Weaver's death was
charged with involuntary manslaughter so the case moved from state to the federal
court where the charges were initially dismissed due to Federal immunity given the situation we talked about the Rules
of Engagement this dismissal was later reversed but the charges were ultimately dropped in 2001 due to the time that had
passed making a conviction very unlikely in May of 2022 in online Facebook post uh of Randy
Weaver's daughter Sarah she posted that her father had passed away the previous day so this would be May 11th after
suffering a brief illness in April of that year no cause of death is given he was 74 years old at
the time of his death and Sarah eulogized her father simply with the line love you always Dad the tragedy at
Ruby Ridge poses an age-old question was self-described white separatist Randy Weaver a radical
right-wing extremist or the victim of blatant and egregious governmental overreach resulting in disastrous
consequences public sentiment in the 1990s decided in favor of the latter and upon examination it seems that in truth
it is possible to be both we can only hope that the bitter Lessons Learned at Ruby Ridge are never forgotten
particularly through the 2025 lens of the deeply divided state of our [Music] nation want to thank everybody for
joining us here in the garage each and every week for everything True Crime Check out True Crime
garage.com make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube and if you need more True Crime garage for your earballs check out
our bonus content on patreon or apple podcast subscription until next week be good be
kind and don't live [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Hate American Made ////// Ruby Ridge

Part 2 of 6

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

Ruby Ridge is the name given to a standoff that lasted for days when federal agents were attempting to serve a bench warrant for husband, father, and property owner Randy Weaver. Weaver was wanted for failure to appear in court, facing illegal weapons charges. A series of errors created unnecessary bloodshed. Several people lost their lives on both sides of this standoff. The words Ruby Ridge have grown to be an “uncomfortable” phrase for many people, communities, and U.S. Government agencies. Ruby Ridge was much more than a big and deadly misunderstanding. Ruby Ridge was an abuse of power and forever shall be a stain on the agencies that abused their power.

More True Crime Garage can be found on Patreon and Apple subscriptions with our show - Off The Record. Catch dozens of episodes of Off The Record plus a couple of Bonus episodes and our first 50 when you sign up today.

Thanks for listening and thanks for telling a friend. Be good, be kind, and don’t litter!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brief Summary

The Ruby Ridge standoff reveals tragic outcomes of government overreach and extremist beliefs, culminating in violence and loss for the Weaver family.

Key points

The Spark of Extremism. The Ruby Ridge incident ignited the American extremist far-right militia movement.
Randy and Vicky's Beliefs. Randy and Vicky Weaver's radical beliefs led them to prepare for the apocalypse.
Randy Weaver's Court Date. Randy Weaver fails to appear in court, triggering a series of escalating events.
The First Shot Fired. Conflicting reports arise about who fired first during the confrontation.
The Tragic Loss. Sammy Weaver is fatally shot during the gunfire exchange with federal agents.
FBI's Amended Rules of Engagement. FBI changes rules allowing deadly force against perceived threats, escalating the situation.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

We're fighting for God against Zog.

Randy and Vicky's radical beliefs about the government.

6:59WatchApr 2, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Garage TV

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.