A sheriff says seven people arrested in a fatal shootout with Louisiana deputies have been linked to violent anarchists on the FBI's domestic terrorism watch lists.
DeSoto Parish Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle said his detectives had been monitoring the group before Thursday's shootout in Laplace, a suburb of New Orleans. Two deputies were killed and two more wounded.
Arbuckle said Saturday his detectives and the work of other law enforcement agencies discovered the suspects were heavily armed adherents to an ideology known as the "sovereign citizens" movement.
The FBI has classified "sovereign citizens" as people who believe they are free from all duties of a U.S. citizen, like paying taxes. The FBI considers them a danger for making threats to judges and law enforcement, using fake currency and impersonating police officers.
© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.