The man suspected of fatally shooting a Trump supporter in Portland, Oregon, last week was killed when police attempted to apprehend him.
Michael Forest Reinoehl, a 48-year-old antifa supporter, was killed Thursday night when a federal fugitive task force moved in on him in Lacey, Washington, the New York Times first reported. A senior Justice Department official told the Associated Press that Reinoehl pulled out a gun and was shot by law enforcement. Portland police issued an arrest warrant earlier in the day.
“Reinoehl was allegedly involved in an August 29 shooting incident in Portland, Oregon, that resulted in a death,” the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement, according to CNN. “Initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers. Task force members responded to the threat and struck the suspect who was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Police had been investigating Reinoehl in connection with the shooting death of Aaron Danielson, 39, on the streets of Portland on Saturday as a pro-Trump car caravan clashed with counterprotesters in the city. Danielson was wearing a thin blue line patch on his shorts, signaling his support for law enforcement, and a hat with a logo for Patriot Prayer, a far-right group that has been active in Portland, when he was shot and killed.
Reinoehl appeared to admit to the fatal shooting of Danielson in an interview with Vice News, claiming he was acting in self-defense. “I had no choice. I mean, 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,” he said in the interview that was published this week.
In the interview, Reinoehl noted that he was with his son on the day of the shooting when they noticed “hundreds” of vehicles with Trump paraphernalia in the area, so he “notified my friends of what I had seen,” and was later told by a person he didn’t name that it “might be a good idea to come down there, security may be needed.”
He continued, “I was confident that I did not hit anyone innocent.”
There are multiple videos of the incident. One of them appears to show Danielson pull out and spray a can of mace as two shots rang out.
In the past, Reinoehl had posted on social media about attending rallies during the daily protests in Portland since the death of George Floyd and identified with antifa, a far-left group that has been blamed for often resorting to violence and has sometimes clashed with Patriot Prayer. “Every Revolution needs people that are willing and ready to fight,” he wrote on July 16. “There are so many of us protesters that are just protesting without a clue of where that will lead. That’s just the beginning that’s that where the fight starts. If that’s as far as you can take it thank you for your participation but please stand aside and support the ones that are willing to fight. I am 100% ANTIFA all the way! I am willing to fight for my brothers and sisters! … We do not want violence but we will not run from it either! … Today’s protesters and antifa are my brothers in arms.”
Reinoehl had a couple of run-ins with law enforcement over the past few months.
He was cited on July 5 on allegations of being in possession of a loaded gun in a public place, resisting arrest, and interfering with police.
A photo of an arrest, which the Daily Caller reported to be of Reinoehl, was posted to Twitter by Portland police.
This knife and firearm were seized during this arrest. The loaded firearm possession violated Coty code. pic.twitter.com/M2LyGuAesJ
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) July 5, 2020
He had been given a court date, but the allegations were dropped at the end of the month with a “no complaint,” said court records reported by the Oregonian.
Reinoehl was also wanted on a failure-to-appear warrant after he and his teenage son were caught racing in different vehicles at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour in eastern Oregon in June after midnight, state police said. He was accused of driving under the influence of a controlled substance, recklessly endangering another, unlawful possession of a gun, and driving while suspended and uninsured.
Minutes before news broke about Reinoehl’s death Thursday night, President Trump questioned on social media why law enforcement wasn’t “ARRESTING the cold blooded killer.”
“Why aren’t the Portland Police ARRESTING the cold blooded killer of Aaron ‘Jay’ Danielson. Do your job, and do it fast. Everybody knows who this thug is. No wonder Portland is going to hell!” the president tweeted, in addition to tagging the handles of the Justice Department and the FBI.
