Story Published:
Jan 20, 2012 at 11:11 PM MST
Story Updated:
Jan 23, 2012 at 1:30 PM MST
BILLINGS - For many Americans, the term "Waco" is associated with a deadly police standoff in Texas with the Branch Davidian sect that caused the death of 76 people. A year before that, however, Idaho had its very own version of a deadly police standoff. Of those who were in the standoff, only three survived.
One of the survivors, Sara Weaver, was in Billings Friday to talk about her experience. In an interview with KULR-8, Sara said she still remembers what happened like it was yesterday.
"She was shot and killed, and I was standing right next to her when that happened," said Sara, referring to her mother, Vicki Weaver. She was shot in the head and killed on August 22, 1992, on the second day of the standoff at the Weaver family home in Ruby Ridge, ID. Ruby Ridge is located on the Idaho Panhandle, near the Canadian border.
The standoff began when U.S. Marshals attempted to arrest Sara's father, Randy Weaver, for failing to appear in court to answer weapons possession charges. The charges were filed by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms after Randy allegedly refused to cooperate in an investigation of a White Supremacist organization.
The standoff turned deadly when a gun battle between the U.S. Marshals and those in the Weaver family home took the life of a marshal and Samuel Weaver, Sara's little brother.
The siege would continue for eight more days after Vicki Weaver's death. Randy Weaver surrendered to law enforcement on August 31st, and Sara was sent to her relatives out-of-state.
"We got sent to Iowa after north Idaho, when all that went down," said Sara.
After Sara graduated from high school, she reunited with her father, who served 15 months in prison on charges of failing to appear in court for the weapons charges he originally faced. After she married, Sara returned to the Northwest: this time, to the town of Marion, about 21 miles southwest of Kalispell.
"I miss the mountains. They were my home. I miss hearing the wind and the trees. There were just a lot of things that I was homesick for," said Sara.
For years, Sara said she tried to not think about what had happened.
"I would try and stuff it away. I would try and run from it, I would try not to talk about it."
Eventually, however, Sara said she couldn't fight the memories and fell into a deep depression. Sara said that by embracing her faith, it brought her back to life.
"If we just have the courage to give those things to him, the anger and the bitterness and the pain, whatever it is we're going through, he'll work through it with you, and he will set you free from those things."
Sara now travels across the country to talk about her experience on the Idaho Panhandle in 1992. She said it is also a healing mechanism of sorts for her, as it allows her to let go of the tragedy, and come to terms with what happened.
"I've learned that it's part of the healing process to be angry, but then you have to move on from that part as well," said Sara, who went on to say that she has forgiven the law enforcement agents who caused her and her family so much pain on that fateful August in 1992.
Sara said she is moving forward and leaving the past behind. Still, she said, there's something she yearns for: her family.
"You always wish you had your loved ones with you. I mean, you never say, 'well, I'm glad they're gone'. That's something you'd never say or feel."
Sara spoke to an audience at the Living Water Church on State Avenue in Billings on Friday, and will do so again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m..
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