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Terror on Ruby Ridge: The Randy Weaver Story

Randy Weaver was accused of sawing off part of the barrel of a shotgun and selling it to two agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF). Randy said this was untrue. His defense lawyer said, "the man is simply being prosecuted for what they allege his beliefs are, rather than for the crimes that he allegedly committed."

Randy Weaver and his 14-year old son, Sammy, and family friend Kevin Harris, who lived with the Weavers, were working around their mountain-top cabin on the morning of Friday, August 21, 1992, when they heard one of the dogs barking in the woods. They believed that a deer or other wild game (one of the family's main sources of food) had been flushed out of the undergrowth by the dog, a Labrador Retriever, "Striker" that Sammy had raised from a pup. Sammy and Kevin grabbed their hunting rifles and headed in the direction of the barking dog. Randy went off at an angle figuring the wild game might be chased away by Sammy and Kevin. As Sammy reached the spot where his dog, Striker, was barking, a shot rang out killing Sammy's dog. Saddened and angered over the shooting of his pet, Sammy, who was closest, yelled, "You shot Striker, you son-of-a-bitch!" and fired in the direction where he thought the shot had come from.

Hearing the shooting and Sammy's yells, Randy shot into the air to attract Sammy and Kevin and yelled to them to get back to the cabin.

Another shot rang out and Sammy was hit in the arm. Sammy turned to run to the cabin and was shot in the back. By this time, Kevin had reached Sammy and learned that he had been shot. Realizing that they were under attack, Kevin shot in the direction from which the shots had come, and then started running toward the cabin, stopping only long enough to realize that Sammy was dead.

Back at the cabin, Kevin related what had happened. When Vicki learned that Sammy was dead, she insisted on bringing him to the cabin immediately. So Vicki, Randy and Kevin disregarded the possibility that Sammy's killers were still in the woods, went to Sammy and brought him back to the cabin.

Sammy's sisters, Sara, 16, and Rachel, 11, washed his body and wrapped him in a white sheet. Sammy's body was taken to a nearby shed to await burial. There was no gunfire during this time.

On Saturday, August 22, 1992, the day after Sammy was killed, the remaining dogs, which were tied up, began barking. Randy, Kevin and Sara went outside to see if there was anything they should be concerned about. Randy went to the shed to see Sammy and to pray. As he reached for the latch, a bullet went through his upper arm. Vicki shouted for the three to come to the cabin.

Sara shielded Randy as they ran. Later she said, "If they were going to kill someone, it would have to be a child." Vicki was holding the door open.
As they entered the cabin, a bullet struck Vicki's forehead, blowing off part of her head.
The same bullet or fragments from Vicki's head broke one of Kevin's ribs and punctured one of his lungs.
Vicki was pulled into the cabin and placed under the kitchen table where she laid in a pool of blood for 8 days. There wasn't enough water left to wash Vicki's body.
The killing of two members of the Weaver family, and the wounding of Randy and Kevin made the survivors realize the intent of the gunmen likely was to kill all of them, too.
To keep the gunmen from being able to see the movements of the survivors in the cabin the windows were covered with blue denim material, leaving the cabin in virtual darkness. Sara and Rachel cared for the wounds of their father and Kevin with herbs.

One report told about a Red Cross official who was with the FBI team the day Vicki was killed by an FBI sniper. He was "absolutely disgusted" by the ruthless attitude of the personnel on the scene.
The Red Cross official said, "They were preparing their machine guns and putting on bullet proof armor. I was standing directly behind three of them. They said, 'We're going to wipe them out. Nobody is going to come off that hill alive.'"

For eleven days, sixteen-year old Sara Weaver was caring for her father, Randy, and a friend, Kevin Harris, who had been shot by U.S. Marshals. Her mother, Vicki, lay on the floor, covered with a blanket--dead.
Outside in a shed lay her fourteen-year old brother, Sam--also dead. Her eleven-year old sister was in a frantic state and her ten-month old sister, Elisheba, was crying, "mamma, mamma, mamma."

Outside were professional snipers--U.S. Marshals, and other federal agents, who were responsible for creating the heartbreaking scene inside the Weavers' cabin. These federal agents lit the cabin with floodlights and added to the terror by making remarks like, "Good morning, Randall. How did you sleep? We're having pancakes. What are you having?"

The force of gunmen was to grow to an estimated 500. Surrounded by this army, Sarah feared that they would all end up dead.

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