Chevie Kehoe Denies He’s A Supremacist Tells Ohio Newspaper He Dislikes Militias; Brother Cheyne Says Officers Fired First

Chevie Kehoe, one of the two brothers who avoided capture for four months following a shootout with Ohio police, denies he is a white supremacist or a member of the Aryan Nations.

In a telephone interview with the Columbus Dispatch from the county jail in Salt Lake City, Kehoe did acknowledge he once attended an Aryan Nations meeting in Hayden Lake, Idaho.

“To be honest … I’m not happy at militia meetings or anti-government meetings,” Kehoe told the Dispatch for a copyright story published Friday.

Authorities in Washington state, where the brothers are from, have said Chevie and his second wife were married at the Aryan Nations compound.

Meanwhile, Cheyne Kehoe told a Spokane television station on Friday that law enforcement officers fired first during one infamous shootout captured on videotape.

Kehoe told KHQ-TV that an officer fired twice toward him when the officer approached the Kehoes’ vehicle.

“He misses me both times,” Cheyne Kehoe said. “I jump out of the vehicle.

“I see him coming around the corner, firing at me,” Kehoe said. “I fire two shots at him, and I run.”

Kehoe said he turned himself in Monday in Colville, Wash. because he was concerned about the safety of his wife and child.

He also acknowledged during the interview that he turned his brother in, KHQ reported, but the station did not broadcast that excerpt.

The full interview is to be broadcast on “America’s Most Wanted” tonight. Cheyne Kehoe is in the Spokane County Jail awaiting extradition to Ohio.

The Kehoe brothers have been reported to share interests in firearms, survivalist activities and anti-government and militia philosophies.

Chevie Kehoe was captured in Cedar City, Utah, on Tuesday, one day after his brother surrendered in their old hometown.

Chevie Kehoe said he knew it was over as soon as he pulled up to a feed store in Cedar City. He said he could tell by the number of cars that FBI agents were waiting for him.

He did not resist as agents grabbed him and put handcuffs on him.

Kehoe had gone to town with farmer Rodney Leavitt, who had taken in the brothers and their families and didn’t know they were fugitives until the FBI contacted him this week.

“The gentleman with me was like a grandfather to me,” Chevie Kehoe said of Leavitt.

“There was no use in harming myself or him by attempting to escape,” the 24-year-old Kehoe told the Dispatch.

He and Cheyne, 21, were the subjects of a nationwide manhunt after being charged in two shootouts Feb. 15 involving law-enforcement officers in Wilmington, Ohio.

Chevie Kehoe said he and his brother were in Ohio looking for work.