Tom Crosslin, 47, owned a 34-acre campground called Rainbow Farm near Vandalia in Cass County, Michigan, where he and Rolland Rohm, 28, hosted pro-marijuana concerts and rallies such as HempAid and the Roach Roast.[1][2] Crosslin had been arrested in May 2001 on charges of felony firearm possession, growing marijuana and maintaining a drug house, and was free on $150,000 bond while the property faced asset-forfeiture proceedings.[1][2] A June court order barred festivals at the farm, and police said Crosslin violated it by holding a festival on 17-18 August, which led to a bond-revocation hearing set for Friday 31 August.[3]

Siege and shootings

On that Friday, deputies went to the farm after neighbours said Crosslin was burning buildings on the property, and Crosslin missed the hearing; a house and four main buildings burned during the days that followed.[1] Shots were fired at a WNDU-TV news helicopter on Friday and at an unmarked state police plane on Saturday, and on Monday a judge signed a federal warrant charging Crosslin with attempted destruction of an aircraft and using a firearm in a felony.[1] That Monday afternoon, 3 September, an FBI agent shot Crosslin dead after Crosslin left a building with a rifle and pointed it at the agent, the county sheriff said.[1] Early on Tuesday 4 September, after a fire was reported at the compound shortly after 6 a.m., Rohm walked into the yard with a long gun, was ordered several times to drop it, pointed it at a Michigan State Police officer and was shot dead.[1]

Aftermath

The Justice Department opened an investigation into both shootings, including a second shot allegedly fired at Crosslin by another FBI agent.[3] A later retrospective reported that the May raid had found at least 200 plants growing in the farmhouse basement, and that Crosslin’s older felony conviction barred him from owning the guns found in the house.[4] Friends of the pair who had camped nearby disputed the police account, saying the two men were on their own property when they were shot.[2] A boy Crosslin and Rohm had helped raise was placed in foster care soon after the pair faced the drug charges.[1] The retrospective says the siege was largely forgotten after the September 11 attacks a week later.[4]