On August 21, deputies of the United States Marshals Service USMS came to arrest Randy Weaver under a bench warrant for his failure to appear on federal firearms charges after he was given the wrong court date. During a surveillance operation, officer Art Roderick shot Weaver's dog when it ran at them and then pointed his rifle at Weaver's year-old son, Samuel, who was armed. Samuel fired back at the marshals, and was shot in the back and killed by the team.
Weaver, Harris, and members of Weaver's immediate family refused to surrender. The conflict was ultimately resolved by civilian negotiators, including veteran activist Bo Gritz , who eventually convinced them to surrender. Harris surrendered and was arrested on August 30; Weaver and his three daughters surrendered the next day. Extensive litigation followed.
Initially, Randy Weaver and Harris were tried on a variety of federal criminal charges, including first-degree murder for the death of Degan. Harris and Weaver were acquitted of all the siege-related charges, and Weaver was only found guilty of violating his bail terms and of failing to appear for a court hearing, both related to the original federal firearms charges. In , a Boundary County prosecutor indicted Horiuchi for the manslaughter of Vicki, but the county's new prosecutor controversially closed the case, judging that he would be unlikely to secure a conviction.
The behavior of federal agents during these events drew intense scrutiny. At the end of Weaver's trial, the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility formed the Ruby Ridge Task Force RRTF in an attempt to investigate Spence's charges; their report raised questions about all of the participating agencies' conduct and policies.
Another inquiry was led by the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Government Information , which held hearings between September 6 and October 19, It issued a report in which it called for reforms in federal law enforcement in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the losses of life at Ruby Ridge and to restore the public's confidence.
