March - June 1983: Anti-Government Activist Kills Two US Marshals, Is Killed in Shootout

Posse Comitatus (see 1969 and 1983) member Gordon Kahl guns down two US marshals who are attempting to arrest him in a confrontation near Medina, North Dakota. The two marshals are attempting to apprehend Kahl in an income tax case. Kahl flees, and four months later is killed by an Arkansas sheriff in a shootout with federal and state authorities. The house in which Kahl is hiding erupts in flames, most likely from gunfire igniting thousands of rounds of ammunition. The sheriff is also killed in the conflagration. [Ian Geldard, 2/19/1995; Nicole Nichols, 2003] The Kahl episode receives national attention and helps destabilize the Posse Comitatus (see 1984).