Bundy: Man shot in Ferdinand ‘fighting for his life’

In a video posted on a social media platform Tuesday, Ammon Bundy claimed Sean Anderson, the Riggins man injured in a shootout with law enforcement officers early Saturday, is in a Lewiston hospital and “fighting for his life.”

Bundy, of Emmett, Idaho, who led the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Ore., in 2016, in which Anderson and his wife, Sandra, took part, said Anderson called him Saturday morning between the time he was first stopped by a Lewis County deputy on U.S. Highway 12 and when the shootout happened about a half-hour later in Ferdinand.

None of this could be confirmed through the Idaho State Police, which is leading the investigation into the incident. Capt. Rich Adamson of the ISP office in Lewiston said the investigation is in its earliest stages and the detectives have not yet viewed whatever videos might exist from the officers involved, nor have they interviewed the officers.

Bundy could not be reached for comment through Facebook Messenger and no phone numbers were available.

Adamson said he was told that Anderson was originally taken to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center but later transferred somewhere else, but he did not know where Anderson is nor the status of his medical condition.

“It’s still in the early stages of the investigation, and it will take awhile to sort through it,” Adamson said.

A nursing supervisor at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center said Tuesday there is no patient at the hospital by the name of Sean Anderson.

A check of several other hospitals in the region also failed to confirm that Anderson is a patient at any of them.

Idaho County Sheriff Doug Giddings said Tuesday that Anderson is alive, but he did not have any further details about Anderson’s condition or where he is hospitalized.

According to Bundy’s video, Anderson was returning home on U.S. Highway 12 about 3 a.m. Saturday when a car approached him flashing its lights.

Anderson, Bundy said, flashed his lights in return and then the car in front of him flipped around, turned on its emergency lights and pulled Anderson over.

There was a conversation between Anderson and the Lewis County deputy, Bundy said, that apparently grew heated and Anderson drove off, headed toward Ferdinand. That’s when Anderson called Bundy on his cellphone and told him “that he feared for his life. Because in his message to me, he said that they’re probably going to kill him.”

Bundy said Anderson also tried to call Giddings, with whom he has a cordial relationship, but could not reach the sheriff.

Once Anderson was cornered at Ferdinand, Bundy said he was shot by officers in the face. Bundy did not indicate where he got that information.

ISP and other law enforcement officers involved declined to comment on any aspect of the shooting or the ongoing investigation, other than to confirm that Anderson was wounded but none of the officers was hurt.

In his video, Bundy expressed skepticism that law enforcement officers would reveal the full story about the shooting.

“I do not know that the truth is going to be portrayed (by law enforcement),” Bundy said.

He said this long-standing distrust of law enforcement is what has led him to get involved with the Black Lives Matter movement and said when he first heard about Anderson’s shooting, it made him so upset, “I almost wanted to retaliate.”

Adamson expressed surprise when told of Bundy’s statements and said he believes relations with the public in this area are good and that people have confidence in law enforcement officers.

Hedberg may be contacted at kathyhedberg@gmail.com or (208) 983-2326.