Bundy Family Public Statement

For Immediate Release
September 2025

Statement Regarding the FBI’s Shield of Bravery Award, the Shooting Death of LaVoy Finicum, and the Injury of Ryan Bundy

Recently FBI Director Kash Patel presented the Bureau’s Shield of Bravery award to Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) operators involved in the 2016 Malheur Wildlife Refuge standoff. The justification for this award, as reported, contains numerous factual inaccuracies about the events of January 26, 2016, inaccuracies that not only defame the memory of LaVoy Finicum but also obscure the truth about what happened to Ryan Bundy, who still carries a bullet in his arm from that day.

We cannot remain silent as falsehoods are institutionalized as “bravery.”

The award citation describes a sequence of events that is demonstrably false:

1. Clandestine Meeting
   • The award states that LaVoy and others were traveling to a “clandestine meeting.”
   • In fact, LaVoy was en route to a publicly announced meeting with Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer, scheduled for that afternoon, attended by hundreds of citizens.
2. Ramming a Vehicle and Pinning an Agent
   • The award citation claims LaVoy rammed his truck into an FBI vehicle, trapping an agent.
   • The FBI’s own aerial video shows LaVoy’s truck swerving off the road into a snowbank to miss hitting an officer after being blocked by law enforcement. There was no ramming. There was no pinned agent. In-fact the footage shows that Lavoy intentionally swerved further into the snow to avoid hitting an officer. 
3. Attempt to Fire on Officers
   • The award states that LaVoy attempted to fire on Oregon State Police (OSP).
   • Multiple witnesses and video evidence show LaVoy exiting the truck with hands raised. The OSP admitted shooting him three times when he lowered his arms, but there is absolutely no evidence he aimed or fired a weapon at officers.

These are facts established by official investigations:

• Oregon State Police (OSP) admitted firing six rounds: three at LaVoy’s truck as it approached the roadblock, and three more that struck and killed him.
• The DOJ Office of Inspector General (OIG) later found that FBI HRT operators fired at least two shots:
  • One struck the roof of LaVoy’s truck.
  • One missed entirely.
• These FBI shots were not disclosed at the time. In fact, the FBI agents (that were recently awarded) denied firing at all.
• Shell casings from FBI rifles were ultimately logged into evidence being found by OSP investigators. This is how we know FBI shots occurred.
• Aerial surveillance video reviewed by the OIG showed the FBI agents (that were recently awarded) “appearing to pick up objects from the roadway” immediately after the shooting — an action inconsistent with proper crime-scene procedure.
• The OIG criticized the FBI’s handling of evidence and later one FBI agents (that was recently awarded) was charged with three counts of “Making False Statements” and two counts of “Obstruction of Justice”. Because of the “lack of evidence” he was acquitted. 

Ryan Bundy was a passenger in LaVoy’s truck. During the shooting, he was struck in the arm by a bullet. Nearly ten years later, the bullet remains lodged in his body.

As bullets entered the vehicle Ryan turned around in his seat, kneeling with his knees on the floor. Had he been sitting in the normal upright position, the trajectory of the bullet that hit him would most certainly have entered his head. His survival depended on that small, fateful shift in posture. Rather than going through his head the bullet entered into his arm. 

FBI Hostage Rescue Team members later testified in court that they are highly trained marksmen. Though LaVoy’s truck had tinted windows, an experienced shooter could approximate where a rear passenger would normally sit. Taken together, these facts raise a sobering question; was the shot which struck Ryan Bundy in the arm intended to kill him?

The government has never accounted for this round. Oregon State Police attributed its shots to LaVoy’s fatal wounds. FBI agents denied ever shooting. Yet Ryan’s wound remains unexplained.

Now, in light of the FBI’s continued false narrative, Ryan Bundy will undergo surgery to have this bullet removed. The bullet will be submitted to an independent forensic laboratory for full ballistics testing.

The official record acknowledges at least two FBI shots, but aerial footage showing agents picking up objects raises another disturbing question: were more shots fired by the FBI than the government has admitted?

• If FBI operators removed casings from the roadway, as the OIG footage suggests, then the true number of FBI rounds may never have been fully reported.
• If so, one of those unacknowledged rounds could be the very bullet that struck Ryan Bundy.
• The only way to resolve this uncertainty is through forensic testing of the bullet that has remained in Ryan’s arm for nearly a decade.

FBI Director, Kash Patel, has now chosen to give medals of honor to agents based on a false account:

• That LaVoy Finicum was secretly conspiring, when he was publicly meeting with a sheriff and hundreds of people. 
• That he rammed an FBI vehicle and trapped an agent, when he swerved into snow.
• That he attempted to shoot at officers.
• That FBI agents acted heroically, when in fact the Bureau’s own Inspector General found they fired shots, failed to disclose them, misrepresented the truth and possibly removed and hid evidence.

Honoring agents on the basis of these distortions does violence to the truth and to the memory of LaVoy Finicum. It also insults every American who expects transparency from their government.

Why the FBI Director is issuing these awards under the circumstances and after nearly a decade is unclear and concerning. 

Giving the established fact and recent FBI awards the Bundy Family Requests:

1. That the FBI release the full text of the Shield of Bravery award citations and the supporting justification memos.
2. That Congressional committees conduct a public review of the award narrative against the factual record.
3. That the FBI correct or rescind statements that contradict established video, forensic analysis, and eyewitness testimony.
4. That the FBI release Lavoy’s truck, permitting independent investigators to examine the bullet holes and verify the evidence.
5. That the FBI and OSP cooperate fully in the ballistics comparison once Ryan Bundy’s bullet is removed.

This is not about vengeance. This is about truth. For nine years, the official story has shifted and hidden behind denials. Now, as medals are pinned on the very agents involved, Ryan Bundy will bear the pain once more to give the American people a piece of unalterable evidence: the bullet in his arm.

That bullet may prove not only that the FBI agent fired shots that they did not admit — but that one of those hidden rounds struck Ryan himself. And the circumstances of that shot suggest it was meant to take his life.

Depending on what the forensic testing reveals, Ryan and the Bundy family will be reviewing all available legal options, including the possibility of civil action, to ensure accountability. 

The bullet will speak the truth, it’s past time for FBI to do the same.

The Bundy Family

Video Link - Shooting Death of LaVoy Finicum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1lZWJUJbqY