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The family of Robert LaVoy Finicum, an Arizona rancher who joined the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge takeover, is suing the FBI, the Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Police and other officials in a wrongful death suit filed Thursday.
The suit alleges that a government conspiracy led law enforcement officers to shoot Finicum in a "roadside execution" on Jan. 26, 2016. The 14 plaintiffs seek $5 million each in damages—$70 million total.
The Oregonian first reported the lawsuit Friday morning.
The suit claims that state and federal officials "conspired with each other and together, to cause LaVoy Finicum's harm and ultimate death" and "acted strategically to perpetrate and then cover up their wrong doing."
Finicum was a supporter of rancher Cliven Bundy during the drawn-out standoff between Malheur occupiers and law enforcement officials. Oregon State Police officers and an FBI agent fired at Finicum after he fled a traffic stop that spurred the end of the occupation, and reached into his jacket for a gun.
FBI agent Joseph Astarita was indicted in June 2017 for lying about firing at Finicum. The FBI failed to suspend Astarita despite investigators informing the agency that he had likely lied about his involvement in the fatal traffic stop.