Lon Horiuchi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lon Tomohisa Horiuchi (born June 9, 1954) is a U.S. FBI sniper who gained notoriety after his role in the Ruby Ridge shootings, following which he was indicted for manslaughter. The charge was dismissed and Horiuchi was later deployed during the Waco Siege.
Raised a Roman Catholic in Hawaii, the Japanese-American graduated from West Point in 1976. Horiuchi is married and has six children, some of whom were homeschooled.[1] Prior to his notoriety, he twice appeared in Soldier of Fortune magazine. [2]
[edit] Ruby Ridge
In 1992, while working at sniper position Sierra 4 for the FBI Hostage Rescue Team at Ruby Ridge, Horiuchi shot and killed Vicki Weaver, and wounded her husband Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris. Vicki Weaver was behind a door – unarmed and holding her infant daughter – when a bullet fired by Horiuchi at Kevin Harris instead struck Vicki Weaver in the face.[3]
In September 1995, Horiuchi testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on the Ruby Ridge shootings. He then followed legal advice and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, limiting the ability of Idaho's prosecutorial team of Denise Woodbury and Stephen Yagman to build a criminal case against him.
In 1997, Horiuchi was charged in Boundary County, Idaho state court with involuntary manslaughter. Horiuchi removed the case to federal court,[citation needed] where the case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge on May 14, 1998, who cited the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution which grants immunity to Federal officers acting in the scope of their employment. This decision was reversed by an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit, which held that Horiuchi should stand trial.[4] However, shortly after the Circuit court rendered its decision, the prosecutor moved to drop the case, and the District court granted the motion on June 26, 2001.
[edit] Waco
On September 13, 1999, Charles Riley, a fellow FBI sniper deployed during the Waco Siege claimed that he had heard Horiuchi shooting from Sierra 1, a FBI-held house in front of the compound holding eight snipers, including Horiuchi and Christopher Curran. Riley later retracted his statement, saying that he had been misquoted, and that he had only heard snipers at Sierra 1 announce that shots had been fired by Branch Davidians.[5]
Three of the twelve expended .308 Winchester shell casings that the Texas Rangers reported finding in the house, were at Horiuchi's position, but officials maintain that they could have been left behind from the earlier use of the house by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and that it would be "nearly impossible" to match them to Horiuchi's rifle, as it had probably been rebarreled since that time.[6]
For this court date, he was represented by attorney Adam Hoffinger.
