A SOG surveillance team consistingof six marshals entered the Weaver property on August 21, 1992, withthe intent of scouting out positions for an undercover plan to captureWeaver. At about 10:45 a.m., near the end of the operation, threemarshals were moving back down the mountain to rejoin their othercomrades. The Weaver's yellow Lab, Striker, had caught a whiffand ran down the road to investigate, followed by Sammy Weaver andKevin Harris. The dog closed in on the retreating three marshals,Arthur Roderick, Larry Cooper, and 15-year SOG veteran BillyDegan. Soon the dog had Cooper cornered. As Harris came upbehind the dog, Cooper rose and shouted, 'Back off! U.S.Marshal!' Seconds later, from behind a stump, Degan rose to hisknee and shouted, 'Freeze! U.S. Marshal!'
Then the shots began. Who shot who first remains a point ofcontention even today. The government story is that Harriswheeled and fired first, fatally wounding Billy Degan in thechest. Cooper responded by firing two three-round bursts atHarris, but missed him. Roderick, meanwhile, from his locationfurther down the path, worried that the dog might give away thelocation of the other marshals. He fired and killedStriker. What the government stories cannot account for is howSammy Weaver, Randy's thirteen-year old son, ended up dead with abullet in his back. According to the marshals, they had no clueSammy had been killed until his body was discovered days later in theWeaver's birthing shed. What is known is that when the machineguns were finally gathered up, to the great surprise of Cooper (who wascertain Degan never fired), it was discovered that seven rounds weremissing from Degan's gun.
Kevin Harris later offered a different version of the events. Hesaid that when Roderick shot his dog, Sammy Weaver yelled, 'You killedmy dog, you son of a bitch!' and began firing at the marshals, one ofwhom opened up on him with a barrage of bullets. Kevin claimed hefired at Degan only to protect Sammy, but it was too late.
Reports of a marshal dead on Ruby Ridge set off alarm bells inWashington, where FBI officials began plotting their next moves, whichincluded revising the agency's rules of engagement to allow agents toshoot to kill any adult at Ruby Ridge seen in the possession of afirearm--whether or not that adult was presently posing a risk ofimmediate death or bodily harm. The FBI's Hostage Rescue Team(HRT), including its most elite snipers, arrived in Idaho early thenext morning. When briefed on their assignment at Ruby Ridge onAugust 22, snipers were told that if they observed an adult carrying aweapon, deadly force 'can and should'be used to take them out.
The FBI had as of yet made no surrender demand when Sniper LenHoriuchi's opportunity arose shortly after taking his position. Randy, Sara, and Kevin left the cabin to visit Sammy's body in thebirthing shed. As Randy reached for the shed door, a bullet torethrough his arm. After the shot, the three ran back to thecabin. Vicki through open the door as her husband and eldestdaughter, followed by Harris, dove in. Then another shot rangout. From inside the cabin, screams could be heard. Whatthe HRT did not know, and what they would not find out for days, isthat the second bullet from Horiuchi's .308-caliber gun had ripped itsway through Vicki Weaver's brain and lodged in the arm of KevinHarris. Three hours after the shooting, Harris, coughing up bloodand in agony, begged Randy to finish him off. 'Kevin, I can't dothat,' Randy replied.