INSIDE THE CAMPGROUND

Police Give Added Details On Standoff

Even though he didn't see them at first, Grover T. "Tom" Crosslin
apparently knew police were watching. During a standoff that started
Friday, Crosslin and his roommate, Rolland Rohm, fired periodically into
the trees surrounding Rainbow Farm Campground to keep police back, state
police Detective Lt. John Slenk said Wednesday.

And when he spotted an FBI agent Monday afternoon after stealing supplies
and a coffee pot from a neighbor's vacant home, Crosslin, dressed in
camouflage from head to toe and armed with a semiautomatic rifle, was ready
to shoot, said John E. Bell Jr., FBI special agent in charge of the state
of Michigan.

When he caught sight of the agent lying in the brush about 25 feet away,
Crosslin "immediately brought the gun up and pointed it at the agent," Bell
said. The agent shouted "FBI, FBI" and ordered Crosslin to put the gun
down. When Crosslin didn't comply, two of three FBI agents nearby fired
shots and killed him, Bell said.

Those were among the details released during a news media tour of 34-acre
Rainbow Farm about the deaths of Crosslin, 46, and Rohm, 28, who was shot
and killed Tuesday morning by Michigan State Police at the farm at 59896
Pemberton Road. Two state troopers shot at Rohm. It was not clear whether
one or two hit him, police said.

A third man, Brandon Peoples, 18, of Vandalia, was with Crosslin and Rohm
during the standoff, but suffered only minor injuries and was not
hospitalized, police said. Peoples has been told by the FBI not to discuss
details of the standoff publicly, his father and girlfriend have said.

While police have not said how many times Rohm was shot or where on his
body he was hit, they did give information about events leading up to his
death.

After negotiating with police by radio and public address system after
Crosslin's death, Rohm agreed to surrender at 7 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Slenk said.

"He indicated that he just wanted to go to bed and sleep because he was
tired," Slenk said.

"He would talk to his son in the morning and then surrender. So in the
morning when they moved in to accept his surrender, he burned the house.
Once the house started burning, everything went sideways from there."

Police made arrangements for Rohm's 13-year-old son Robert, who currently
lives in a foster home, to speak with his father. But Rohm's plans either
changed or, as Slenk suspects, he was trying to lure authorities to the
home under false pretenses.

At about 6:15 a.m. EDT Tuesday, police surveying the scene saw smoke and
fire coming from the house, Slenk said.

As police approached in an armored car, they saw Rohm dressed in camouflage
and face paint carrying a rifle, driven from the blazing house. Rohm caught
sight of a state police officer who did not see him and aimed his gun at
the officer.

Two other state troopers downhill from Rohm ordered him to put down his
gun. He was shot and killed when he did not comply, said Capt. Richard
Dragomer, the Paw Paw-based 5th District commander for Michigan State Police.

Investigators said both men's Ruger mini 14 semiautomatic rifles were
loaded with bullets in the chambers.

They were also apparently expecting to receive fire from police.

Slenk said Crosslin and Rohm had blocked the windows of the two-story home
with bales of hay to prevent bullets from coming through. The men also used
propane tanks as booby traps in the house to explode when the house was
lit, Slenk said.

Heat also set off ammunition in the house and one pipe bomb went off during
the fire, police said.

"There were multiple explosions," Slenk said of the home burning after Rohm
set it on fire Tuesday morning. "It sounded like the Fourth of July out here."

Newberg Township Fire Department put out several hot spots on the property
Tuesday morning after Rohm's death. The department was also on scene
Wednesday. One firefighter said no fire departments had been out to the
scene before Tuesday because Crosslin would not allow them on the property.

Bell said there were 10 buildings on the property that were all burned to
the ground except for a "ratty old chicken coop" and a doghouse.

The chickens stayed near their coop on Wednesday.

The other buildings included the house, a store, camping huts and sheds.
Now they are not much more than black piles of debris throughout an
otherwise hilly, lush green site.

Bell said investigators found several weapons, hundreds of shell casings
and evidence of a pipe bomb.

State police fire marshals said they did not find evidence of accelerants
in any of the buildings.

Other law enforcement from various FBI divisions from Detroit and
Washington, D.C., state police and the state police fire marshal division
combed the scene for bullets, shells and other evidence.

They found no booby traps or tunnels on the property as had been rumored,
Bell said. They did find the remnants of revolvers, long guns and
ammunition containers, he said. All weapons on the scene were legal.

A bomb dog, cadaver dog and fire dog were working the scene as well.

As well as investigating Rainbow Farm, state police also searched
Crosslin's historical home, a former Underground Railroad site, at the
corner of Michigan 60 and Calvin Center Road on Tuesday, Slenk said. He did
not know what, if anything, they found.

Slenk said the shooting of a WNDU-TV news helicopter on Friday and taking
shots at other aircraft on Saturday was a clear message from Crosslin to
police that "I'm willing to shoot planes out of the air and I'll shoot you."

A federal warrant was issued Monday for Crosslin for the aircraft shootings.

He also faced charges from May for manufacturing marijuana, more than 200
plants; maintaining a drug house; felony firearm possession during the
commission of a crime; and firearm possession by a felon.

He had posted a $150,000 bond and was released.

Rohm was initially charged with manufacturing marijuana, more than 200
plants; maintaining a drug house; and felony firearms. The last two charges
were dismissed on June 22, court records show. He had posted $25,000 bond
on the charges.

The standoff started Friday, the same day Crosslin and Rohm were to appear
in Cass County Circuit court on a bond revocation hearing. Police said they
observed the men smoking marijuana on Aug. 17.

The investigation into alleged drug activity at the farm has resulted in a
civil suit seeking the public seizure of the land under the federal
Controlled Substance Act.

Crosslin's funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the
Walley-Mills-Zimmerman Funeral Home & Crematory in Elkhart.

Arrangements for Rohm were pending Wednesday night at the
Thompson-Lengacher & Yoder Funeral Home in Nappanee.