November 4, 2016 ▸ True Crime, War & Conflict

Episode 141: Ruby Ridge: Death by Federal Agent

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On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the standoff at Ruby Ridge, which has become synonymous with a violent, overactive federal government. Randy Weaver and his wife Vicky were two survivalists who wanted to live off the grid, avoid the federal government, and home school their children. It turns out they were also involved with white supremacist groups such as the Aryan Nations, and they practiced an extreme version of apocalyptic Christianity called Christian Identity.

After the Weavers had trouble legally homeschooling their children (and after Randy was laid off from his factory job), they moved to a homemade cabin in Idaho on 20 acres of mountainous terrain. While living there on Ruby Ridge, Randy Weaver started attending Aryan Nations meetings and had some strange run-ins with neighbors who claimed he threatened the life of the president, the pope, and governor of Idaho. In 1989, an Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms informant who had infiltrated the Aryan Nations allegedly bought two sawed off shotguns from Weaver.

The agent then tried to use it as leverage to get Weaver to become an informant, and when Weaver refused, they arrested him for the manufacturing of illegal weapons.

From there, things got weird and escalated slowly. The federal marshal service tried to arrest him, but let him hide out in his cabin for seven months without going after him. Eventually, the marshals tried to do reconnaissance on his property, and it led to a horrible altercation where Weaver’s son Samuel and his dog Striker were shot and killed by marshals. A Federal Marshal named Deagan was killed in the firefight as well, and this led to the FBI.

So what happened during this tense siege of the Weaver cabin at Ruby Ridge? How much did the FBI truly know about the situation they were walking in on? How did Vicki Weaver die? Why were the rules of engagement so different at Ruby Ridge than standard FBI procedures? What connections do the sniper of Ruby Ridge (Lon Horiuchi) and the Branch Davidians in Waco have? How did all of this involve Geraldo Rivera? Listen, Laugh, Learn.