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Family of Oregon slain protester says victim unarmed

Protesters hold signs during a protest against police shooting dead of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum in Oregon on January 29, 2016. (AFP photo)

The family of an American protester killed by police in the US State of Oregon says the victim posed no threat to officers as he was shot in the back with his hands up.

Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, 56, died Tuesday during the arrest of occupation ringleader Ammon Bundy and four others during a traffic stop near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Law enforcement officials asserted that Finicum was shot after he made a motion toward a gun in his coat pocket.

The victim’s family, however, said in a statement on Friday that they were not accepting the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) assertion that he was armed.

"LaVoy was not 'charging' anyone. He appears to have been shot in the back, with his hands in the air," read the statement.

"At this point we will await the outcome of any investigation, but based on the information currently available to us, we do not believe that LaVoy's shooting death was justified," it added.

In video released by the FBI on Thursday, Finicum is seen fleeing in a white truck in the video. He then leaves the truck and raises his hands in the air when was shot by Oregon state Police troopers.

 Finicum daughter said his father murdered execution -style with his hands in the air.

Supporters of the armed protesters who took over the refuge also said Finicum, a rancher from Arizona who came to Oregon to support the protesters, was gunned down in cold blood.

A group of people took to the streets in Burns, Oregon, January 27, 2016, holding a candlelight vigil for Robert Finicum. (AFP photo)

The occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge began on January 2, when leader Ammon Bundy and at least a dozen of his followers took over a small cluster of buildings at the refuge.

The occupation was a flare-up in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, which is a decades-old standoff over the government’s control of millions of acres in the western states.

Bundy, the leader of the month-long occupation of the refuge, was arrested on Tuesday and remains in custody pending trial, a US District Court judge ruled on Friday.

In a statement issued by his lawyers, Bundy urged the remaining protesters to stand down, saying they would continue to fight federal land policy through the courts.


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