In 1991, an ATF informant entrapped Randy Weaver into selling him two sawed-off shotguns. After ATF officials lied to a federal prosecutor, Weaver was indicted and sent the wrong court date. On August 21, 1992, after numerous illegal incursions onto Weaver's Ruby Ridge mountaintop property near the Canadian border, three U.S. marshals dressed in Ninja outfits and carrying submachine guns ambushed Weaver's 14-year old son and family friend Kevin Harris. One marshal shot the boy's dog and a firefight erupted in which another marshal was killed. As Sammy Weaver ran from the scene towards the family's ramshackle cabin, a marshal shot him in the back and killed him.

The next day, the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team arrived. Within an hour of its snipers taking position, every adult in the cabin was either dead or severely wounded—even though they had not fired a shot at the FBI. FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot Randy Weaver in the back as he stood outside his home, and then killed Vicki Weaver as she stood by the cabin doorway holding their 10-month old baby. The bullet that passed through Vicki Weaver's skull then badly wounded Kevin Harris.

The FBI proclaimed its Ruby Ridge operation a great success, but a federal jury found Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris not guilty on almost all charges. Federal Judge Edward Lodge condemned the FBI's misconduct and fabrication of evidence. The debacle in federal court spurred a Justice Department task force investigation. However, on December 9, 1994, Deval Patrick, then-assistant attorney general for civil rights, announced that he was rejecting the task force's findings and opposed any prosecution of FBI agents involved at Ruby Ridge. But he kept the task force report secret.