Cliven Bundy denies involvement in shooting near BLM camp

Bunkerville, Nevada, rancher Cliven Bundy on Friday denied he was involved in an incident in the Gold Butte area southwest of Mesquite on June 5 in which three Bureau of Land Management contractors claim shots were fired near their camp on two occasions one night.

A story published in a Las Vegas newspaper Friday morning said the FBI and Metro Police were investigating the alleged incident.

The three contractors, one man and two women working for the Great Basin Institute, were in Gold Butte surveying springs, seeps and cattle troughs for the BLM, according to the newspaper story.

The three told authorities they had pitched a camp their first night in the area and sometime in the dark someone shined lights on the camp, fired three shots, left the area and then returned an hour later and fired three more shots, the newspaper reported.

The trio told authorities they were monitoring water sources on June 5 when they were approached by two men who asked what they were doing.

The researchers left after six shots were fired later that night near their camp in an area that’s being considered for federal protection as a national conservation area.

The contractors were working in an area where Bundy maintains a corral and watering trough and their report to the BLM reportedly said they had met two ranchers they believed might be related to Bundy’s cattle operation before pitching camp.

Bundy told the Desert Valley Times he and his eldest son Ryan did meet the three contractors while delivering hay to his cattle.

“We did greet those people, but we didn’t have anything to do with any shooting,” Bundy said. “We just told them we hoped they’d enjoy their stay.”

The contractors, Bundy said, were in a pickup with Nevada license plates but no other markings.

“I asked them what they were doing in the area, and they just said they were looking for a place to camp,” Bundy said.

The rancher said he told them he was going to unload his hay at his corral and head house near a mountain spring and “then we’ll get out of your way.”

The survey crew said they pitched camp and went to bed about 9 p.m., according to the newspaper report. A short time later, they reportedly heard a vehicle and then the first shots.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and stick my neck out and make a statement,” Bundy said.

“I’m sticking my neck out because it indicates I have a prejudice against them but here it is: We ran the BLM and U.S. Park Service and their contract cowboys along with their armed army off this Clark County Nevada land,” Bundy said, reading from a prepared statement. “We are not going to ever let American people have these guns pointed down our throats again. The bureaucrats always gets someone to do their dirty work, referring to the contract cowboys and referring to the others in the RJ (Las Vegas Review Journal) story. We ran BLM and their contractors off this land and they need to remember that. Basically those guys who were out there shouldn’t be there.”

Bundy said he read the newspaper story Friday morning and then called the Metro Police substation in Overton.

“Sgt. (Bret) Empy and I went out there and if those people were telling the truth, that a vehicle shined their lights on the camp, shot a gun off, drove away and then came back and did it again, there was no sign of it,” Bundy said. “They were on a dead-end road. There should have been tracks or something. They’ve tried to make me out the bad guy and make me a criminal over the last 20, 25 years. We risked our lives the last time, and we don’t ever want that mess coming back.”

Follow Mike Donahue on Twitter, @MDonahueDVT. Call him at 702-346-7495.

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