FBI Agent Indicted After LYING About Shooting At Oregon Right-Wing Protester
The agent, W. Joseph Astarita, faces charges of obstruction of justice and giving a false statement about not firing shots at Robert "LaVoy" Finicum. Astarita plead not guilty to these charges in court on Wednesday.
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While an investigation concluded that the gunshots toward Finicum were justified, investigators were unable to account for two gunshots that missed Finicum, one of which had struck his truck. Now, Astarita is being indicted for failing to report that he had fired those two shots and lying to investigators about it. Four other agents are under investigation for covering up Astarita's gunshots, although it is unknown if they will face any charges.
FBI veteran Michael German told The Oregonian, "Here you have one of the best trained units in the FBI. They're only supposed to shoot when there's an active threat. You would hope they would be accurate in doing so."
Finicum's attorney, Brian Claypool, told The Oregonian that they applauded the decision and would be filing a lawsuit claiming that "excessive force" was used against Finicum.
