SPOKANE — The Washington State Patrol has confirmed it is investigating threats reportedly made against a state lawmaker who recently made headlines for visiting an Oregon wildlife refuge that’s been occupied by armed protesters.
Rep. Matt Shea said he received the threats Jan. 12 and 13, after news articles described his visit with protesters at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported.
State Patrol spokesman Kyle Moore confirmed the agency’s Spokane District has “an open and active case” involving threats against the Spokane Valley Republican, but said he could not give further details.
Shea declined to comment to the newspaper. But on Facebook, he blamed the Spokesman-Review’s coverage of his trip.
“The articles have incited these violent threats against me and my family,” Shea wrote. “Therefore, I demand a retraction and an apology of the Spokesman-Review for putting me and my family in danger.”
In another post, Shea wrote “the ‘peaceful tolerant’ Democrat supporters are at it again now threatening my family.”
Editors at The Spokesman-Review said they had not received a request from Shea for a retraction.
“I certainly understand why Mr. Shea would contact law enforcement about any threats against him or his family,” Editor Gary Graham said.
“I hope that he will share with us any facts that support his accusations that our reporting has prompted any of those threats. We were not the first news organization to report that he had made the trip to the wildlife refuge and other news outlets have published accounts of his trip as well.”
After the trip, Shea spokesman John Sattgast described it as a “fact-finding session.”
One of the protest leaders is Ammon Bundy, son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was in an armed standoff with federal authorities in 2014 over grazing rights on federal land. Shea visited the Bundy ranch during that standoff.
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