LaVoy Finicum, the Oregon militia member who became known as #Tarpman and was one of the leading members of Ammon Bundy’s anti-Bureau of Land Management protest, died following the group’s violent confrontation with federal and state authorities in late January. To raise money for his family, supporters are auctioning off custom Lego replicas of Finicum on eBay.
Following the shooting death of the Arizona rancher, the news media churned through conflicting accounts about what happened. According to the FBI, shots were fired between Bundy’s “militia” and the authorities, and in the end, Finicum was the lone casualty. He had apparently resisted, but eyewitness accounts and footage of the incident suggest he may have held his hands up and said “don’t shoot” before he was shot.
Hence the eBay auction to raise funds for Finicum’s family and generate awareness about what his supporters believe actually happened in Oregon. A local Fox affiliate in Salt Lake City first reported the sale, which was organized by the rancher’s niece, Jessica Fauth Edgar.
According to the information she provided on eBay:
Hi, My name is Jessica. I am LaVoy’s neice. Many of you have seen me promoting this on face book. This will be a LIMITED EDITION 15 ONLY. Auctions will be held every 10 days or so until they are gone. I am trying to help my Aunt Jeanette and YES 100% of this will go directly to her… My uncle set a great example for his family and friends and I am so proud of him.
The current auction, which ends on Sunday, lists the top bid at $155 as of this writing.
As Jessica indicated, the auction has been shared all over Facebook among supporters of and those sympathetic to the anti-BLM movement’s cause. However, she indicated in a later Facebook post that others had flagged her ads on eBay and worried that the auction website would take the whole thing down.