Suspect in Portland killing of far-right
protester 'shot dead' by US marshals
Federal and local officers were trying to arrest
Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, on an arrest warrant, says sheriff’s office
Guardian
staff
Fri 4 Sep
2020 06.26 BSTLast modified on Fri 4 Sep 2020 06.52 BST
The suspect
in the death of a far-right protester in Portland has been shot dead by US
marshals in Washington state, according to local law enforcement officials.
Michael
Forest Reinoehl, 48, a regular attendee during weeks of protests, was killed
during an encounter in Lacey, Washington, south-west of Seattle on Thursday
evening, said the Pierce county sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer, according to the
Olympian news site.
Reinoehl
was suspected of being involved in the death of Aaron Danielson in downtown
Portland during a clash between Black Lives Matters protesters and supporters
of Donald Trump at the weekend.
Breadth of
rightwing Portland protest network reveals energized Trump base
Read more
Federal
agents from the FBI and the US marshals service had located Reinoehl on
Thursday after a warrant was issued for his arrest, Troyer said. During the
encounter, Reinoehl was shot by a law enforcement officer who was working on
the federal task force.
Lt Ray
Brady, of Thurston county sheriff’s department, said the Pierce county fugitive
apprehension team, working with US marshals, was in the area looking for a
wanted homicide suspect when they saw him come out of an apartment. They said
he appeared to be armed.
“The suspect
came out to the car,” Troyer said. “They attempted to put him into custody and
shots were fired.”
His death
was also reported by the New York Times, the Washington Post and Associated
Press, citing unnamed officials.
A witness
who was walking his dog in the area was quoted by the Olympian as hearing 30-40
shots being fired after two SUVs pulled up outside a block.
On Monday
it emerged that Portland police were reported to have launched a homicide
investigation focused on a BLM supporter.
Trump, who
highlighted Danielson’s death in tweets earlier in the week and defended his
supporters’ use of paintballs against BLM protesters, posted on Twitter moments
before the story broke: “Why aren’t the Portland Police ARRESTING the cold
blooded killer of Aaron ‘Jay’ Danielson.”
In an
interview in Vice published on Thursday morning, Reinoehl said he acted in
self-defence when far-right marchers diverted from their agreed route and
descended on the downtown area where BLM supporters were gathered on Saturday.
“I had no
choice. I mean, I, I had a choice. I could have sat there and watched them kill
a friend of mine of color. But I wasn’t going to do that.”
Man Linked to Killing at a Portland Protest Says
He Acted in Self-Defense
"I could have sat there and watched them kill a
friend of mine of color. But I wasn't going to do that."
VN
By VICE
News
September
3, 2020, 10:47pm
MICHAEL
REINOEHL TALKS TO FREELANCE JOURNALIST DONOVAN FARLEY ABOUT THE SHOOTING
INCIDENT IN PORTLAND. (VICE NEWS)
Ever since
a member of the right-wing “Patriot Prayer” group was shot and killed during a
violent rally in downtown Portland August 29, the police investigation has
reportedly focused on 48-year-old Michael Forest Reinoehl, an Army veteran and
father of two who has provided what he called “security” at Black Lives Matter
protests.
The Wall
Steet Journal reported earlier that Reinoehl was a person of interest in the
killing of Aaron “Jay” Danielson, who was taking part in a massive pro-Trump
caravan that began in Clackamas earlier in the day.
In a
conversation with freelance journalist Donovan Farley shared with VICE News,
Reinoehl said he believed he and a friend were about to be stabbed, and that he
acted in self defense. VICE News has not independently verified details of his
story.
Shortly
after VICE News reported this conversation, Reinoehl was killed in an encounter
with officers when the federal fugitive task force attempted to arrest him
according to The New York Times.
“You know,
lots of lawyers suggest that I shouldn't even be saying anything, but I feel
it's important that the world at least gets a little bit of what's really going
on,” Reinoehl said. “I had no choice. I mean, I, I had a choice. I could have
sat there and watched them kill a friend of mine of color. But I wasn't going
to do that.”
Portland
has been a flashpoint for protests since the 2016 election, but after the death
of George Floyd in May, protests have gotten messier and increasingly
dangerous. In August, a right-wing protester was arrested for firing into a
crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters. Proud Boy Alan Swinney brandished a gun
and pointed it at protesters, and a group of reportedly left-aligned protesters
were seen on video dragging a truck driver out of his vehicle and beating him
up.
The killing
of Danielson is the first linked to an antifacist protester in recent years. It
happened one week after 17-year-old pro-Trump protester Kyle Rittenhouse
allegedly shot three protesters at a march in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing two.
Rittenhouse’s lawyer is claiming he acted in self defense.
Reinoehl
had been a nightly presence at Black Lives Matter protests in Portland for
months. In early July, he was arrested for carrying a loaded handgun at a
protest and resisting arrest. The WSJ reports that the case remains open. Later
that month, he was shot in the arm while attempting to wrestle a gun away from
a right-wing protester during a skirmish.
Reinoehl
said he became aware of the pro-Trump truck parade when he saw what he
described as “hundreds of trucks with flags on them,” while driving around
Portland earlier in the day with his teenage son.
“I notified
my friends of what I had seen and finished what I was doing with my son, got
home and then received a phone call that it might be a good idea to come down
there,” he said. “Security may be needed not knowing what that would entail. I
had no idea what I was getting into.”
“I’m seeing
all these vehicles with hatred, people in the backs of the trucks yelling and
screaming and swinging bats and sticks at protesters that are just standing
there yelling at them,” he said.
At 8:45
p.m., Reinoehl said he went to the aid of a friend surrounded by trucks laden
with armed pro-Trump protesters. “I saw someone that is a dear and close friend
of mine in the movement by himself basically confronting all these vehicles,”
Reinhoel told Farley. “And so I let him know that I'm here, parked my vehicle
and joined up with him, found myself in the intersection in front of the food
trucks surrounded by trucks and cars that had weapons.”
Reindoehl
stressed that people participating in the pro-Trump caravan were heavily armed
in those trucks, and that they carried “not just paintball guns,” as reported
in the press.
He found
himself in a confrontation with a man who he says threatened him and another
protester with a knife. “Had I stepped forward, he would have maced or stabbed
me,” Reinoehl said.
Bystander
video from multiple angles show a man who resembles Reinoehl and appears to
have the same neck tattoo fire two shots at Danielson and then walk away. “I was confident that I did not hit anyone
innocent and I made my exit,” he said.
Since the
shooting, Reinoehl said he’s gone into hiding, and moved his children to a safe
place after shots were fired into his house just hours after the incident.
“They're out hunting me,” he said. “There's nightly posts of the hunt and where
they're going to be hunting. They made a post saying the deer are going to feel
lucky this year because it's open season on Michael right now.”
He had not
turned himself in, he said, because he believed right-wing protesters were
collaborating with police, who will not protect him or his family.
He said at
the time of the confrontation and the shooting, there were no police present to
help. “There was definitely nobody in sight, no police officer, nobody at all
that could intervene. It was a free-for-all. And the police were letting it
happen,” he said.
Two weeks
later, he said, he had no regrets about his actions. “If the life of anybody I
care about is in danger, and there's something I can do to prevent it … I think
that any good human being would do the same thing,” he said.
Reinoehl
said he’s spoken to attorneys who say “I’ve got a viable case for self defense
and protection because there’s a definite threat to my life.”
On
Thursday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said the investigation into the incident
is still in early stages. “We don’t even have all the facts yet. We haven’t
been able to speak to all of the witnesses. We haven’t been able to process all
of the video that’s come from local businesses,” he told KOIN 6 News.
“I feel
that they're trying to, you know, put other charges on me. They’ll find another
way to keep me in,” Reinoehl said when asked why he didn’t tell his story to
the police. “Honestly, I hate to say it, but I see a civil war right around the
corner,” he said. “That that shot felt like the beginning of a war.”
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