Friend of Idaho Supremacist Wanted in Death Surrenders

NAPLES, Ida. —  A man holed up in a mountaintop cabin with a white supremacist fugitive for 10 days after a U.S. marshal was killed surrendered Sunday to get medical attention for gunshot wounds.

More than 100 federal, state and local officers have surrounded the remote mountaintop home of fugitive Randy Weaver since the marshal was shot Aug. 21. Weaver’s wife and 14-year-old son also were killed in shootouts.

Kevin Harris, 24, was escorted out of the cabin by James G. (Bo) Gritz, a retired Army Special Forces lieutenant colonel who has been negotiating an end to the standoff.

Harris was given first aid for his wounds and taken by helicopter to Spokane, Wash., for hospital treatment, said FBI agent Gene Glenn.

He has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan, 42, of Quincy, Mass., who was shot as he approached the cabin.

Weaver, 44, and his three daughters--ages 16, 10 and 10 months--remained in the cabin on Ruby Ridge, about 10 miles south of Bonners Ferry and 110 miles northeast of Spokane.

The siege began when a federal marshal and Weaver’s teen-age son, Samuel, were killed in a gunfight. Weaver’s wife, Vicki, 43, was shot and killed the following night, and Weaver and Harris were hurt.

Gritz said Saturday that Harris’ health was failing and that he had offered to surrender if all charges against Weaver were dropped. Gritz said Harris was coughing up blood and fighting an infection.

“The last thing Randy said is: ‘I would have terrible conscience problems if Yahweh allowed Kevin to die in here,’ ” Gritz said.

Weaver is a devotee of the Christian Identity Movement, which combines Old Testament beliefs with right-wing and white-supremacist politics.

Gritz said he forwarded the offer to federal officials. He said he was told by the U.S. attorney’s office in Boise, Ida., that charges against Weaver remain under investigation and that Weaver would have a chance to testify before a grand jury.

Gritz has been joined by a local minister and a family friend, who went inside the cabin and took juice, milk, grapes and a bottle for Weaver’s baby daughter.

Weaver has been a fugitive since February, 1991, when he failed to appear for a federal weapons trial. He was accused of selling illegal shotguns to an undercover agent.