Standoff in Ore. dwindles to 4 holdouts

Associated Press

BURNS, Ore.

The armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge dwindled Thursday to just four holdouts demanding assurances they will not be arrested by the FBI if they surrender.

“We’re still stuck here, four of us. They’re telling us it’s safe to leave, but it’s not safe,” a spokesman believed to be occupier David Fry said in a video posted on YouTube nearly four weeks into the standoff in the frozen high desert.

The FBI had no immediate comment on the negotiations or the holdouts’ demands, saying only that it was trying to “empty the refuge of the armed occupiers in the safest way possible.”