Idaho County Officer Involved Shooting Involving Sean L. Anderson
On July 18th, Sean L. Anderson, well-known for being one of the last to leave the Malheur Refuge during the “standoff” in 2016, was involved in a pursuit with multiple law enforcement agencies that resulted in an officer involved shooting. Sean is not, nor has ever been a member, however, The Real 3%ers Idaho were notified the following day of the situation. As an organization, we activated our Due Process Investigation team to gain a better understanding of the events that transpired.
After almost two weeks of inquires and conversations, Ammon Bundy and our Investigative Team were invited to view the evidence of the incident. This evidence included both audio and video of the night in question. The goal of this meeting being to clarify the situation, provide an accurate account and hopefully quell the unrest the public was feeling due to speculation and uninformed narratives by multiple parties. Mr. Bundy, on the day of the meeting, decided that he was not going to participate because he felt the public should have access to this evidence and not just a select-few individuals. Our team decided to keep the meeting and try to gain a better understanding of the events. Unfortunately, Mr. Bundy informed the Idaho County Deputies that the meeting was cancelled and failed to inform them that our team was already on the way to their office and intended to keep the meeting. This resulted in the investigating officer leaving and some pertinent evidence was unavailable upon the team’s arrival. Luckily, The Idaho County Detectives were still willing to meet and share what evidence they could without the investigating officer being there.
Through this meeting, our team was able to the listen to the duration of the 911 call Mr. Anderson made to Idaho County Dispatch and were able to watch the body cam footage from the Idaho County Deputy involved in the incident. The evidence that was unavailable included the initial vehicle stop and some footage of the officer involved shooting.
The audio of the 911 call begins at the point shortly after Mr. Anderson left the initial vehicle stop. This audio includes some of the following:
Sean calls 911 and demands to speak to Sheriff Giddings, of Idaho County because he is involved in a pursuit and believes it to be an Idaho County Deputy chasing him.
Sean informs the Dispatcher that an oncoming car had its brights on and he flashed his lights at him. Sean stated that this resulted in the Deputy initiating a traffic stop. Both parties argued over who flashed whom.
Sean told the Dispatcher, “I took off and I’m in hot pursuit, this is serious shit”.
Sean stated he was on Highway 14 when, in-fact, he was on Highway 12. It seemed, to our team, because of his conduct and slurred speech, that he may have been intoxicated.
When Sheriff Giddings joined the call, Sean stated, “I’m not liking it. I’m not going to succumb to it. Deputies are out of line”. He included that “They are putting me in position that life is on the line here”, referring to the Deputies.
Sean then changed his story and stated the officer flashed his lights before the initial contact. There was more back-and-forth
Sean said, “They have a road block. I’m going to run it, or I am going to shoot people. Call off this bullshit”. He included, they have this road block, I’m going around this road block”.
The Sheriff stated, “You need to stop. What do you want me to do”?
Sean told him, “Call off this bullshit”.
Sean changes the story again, saying he had his high beams on and shut them off because the oncoming vehicle flashed him, then in the same sentence says he never had his high beams on at the oncoming vehicle.
Sheriff Giddings asks, “Why are you running?”
Sean replied, “Because he is lying”.
Sheriff Giddings states, “This isn’t worth it for flashing lights. You need to stop”.
There is some back-and-forth between Sean and Sheriff Giddings.
Sean then states, “I am going to stop and probably die”.
Sheriff Giddings asks, “Why would you die for flashing lights. This isn’t worth dying over. You aren’t thinking straight on this, just for flashing lights. Just pull over.”
Sean stated that it was the Sheriff’s fault.
Sheriff Giddings continued to try and talk Sean down.
Before Sean is heard, appearing to drop his phone, he states, “Here we go” multiple times and you can hear, officers giving commands and Sean telling them, “Don’t you do it, don’t you do it. I don’t have a gun. Here we go, here we go”. Then, what appears to be a shotgun being fired, followed by, what appears to be handgun fire.
These are excerpts of a roughly twenty-minute 911 call. Throughout this call, Mr. Anderson was, in our team’s opinion agitated, aggressive and threatening. Although none of this should be construed as being a complete picture of the night in question, it does begin to paint a picture of Mr. Anderson’s demeanor and mindset during the incident.
The Deputy’s body cam footage, our team viewed, begins as the peace officer exits his vehicle and begins firing 6-8 rounds at Mr. Anderson. Immediately after firing the last round, he calls out, “Shots fired, Code 4, start medical”. As the officers approach the vehicle, the driver’s side door is seen in the open position and a pistol-grip shotgun is seen lying on the ground. The officers clear the vehicle and they believe Mr. Anderson is deceased but, they remove him from the vehicle and position him on the ground in what appeared to be the “shock position”. The officers call for med evac and begin directing the helicopter to a viable landing zone. As Mr. Anderson begins to show signs of life, the officers immediately try to calm him and keep him still while they retrieve a medical bag and begin administering aid. The body cam video continues on this way until superiors arrive and the camera is deactivated.
The Real 3%ers Idaho would like to thank the Idaho County Sheriff’s Department for their transparency and willingness to provide some clarity into the events of that night. We hope this report serves to dispel some rumors and conspiracy theories that have been thrown around in the past weeks. We also hope this report serves to calm people’s heads and that the public will reserve judgement until the full picture is revealed. We understand the difficulties in coordinating the release of evidence between multiple agencies. We hope that the rest of the videos and audio will be released in a timely manner. Within a week, the evidence, including the video that was unavailable today could be available to the public following the Preliminary Hearing. This is subject to the Defense requesting its suppression.
The Real 3%ers Idaho would also like to thank our members and the general public that have diligently worked to gain access to this information. We take very seriously our responsibility to thoroughly investigate a situation before we involve ourselves. This is the first step in shedding light on a dark situation.
Idaho County Officer Involved Shooting i
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