20 years after Ruby Ridge, there’s forgiveness
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — When Sara Weaver saw her father Randy struck in the shoulder by a government sniper’s bullet in the Idaho wilderness in August 1992, she began to sprint back to the family’s cabin on a hilltop called Ruby Ridge.
As the 16-year-old closed in, her mother, Vicki, opened the cabin door and stood behind it, holding Sara Weaver’s 10-month-old sister in her arms. Just then, a sniper’s bullet struck her mother in the head, killing her.
For the next nine days, the surviving Weavers holed up in the cabin while hundreds of federal agents laid siege in a standoff that helped spark an anti-government patriot movement that grew to include the Oklahoma City bombing.
Today, 20 years later, Sara Weaver has left the anger behind, finding religion — and forgiveness.
‘‘I went 10 years without understanding how to heal’’ until becoming a born-again Christian, she said. ‘‘All bitterness and anger had to go,’’ she said. ‘‘I forgave those that pulled the trigger.’’
These days, the Weavers live near Kalispell, Mont., a city in the northwestern part of the state that is the gateway to Glacier National Park and more than 100 east of Ruby Ridge.
Patriarch Randy Weaver, 63, is a doting grandfather, his daughter said. Her two sisters, including the one who was in Vicki Weaver’s arms, are working.
For a time, it seemed doubtful that any family members would survive the siege.
