Suspected killer of far-right activist is shot dead by police as American unrest continues
THE 48-year-old suspected killer of a far Right activist in Portland, Oregon, has been shot dead by police as protests and unrest in several cities continued across the US.
Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, died while officers from the US Marshals Service tried to arrest him in Lacey, Washington, about 120 miles north of Portland. He was the fourth person to be killed in just over a week of violent clashes between Black Lives Matter protesters and Right-wing counterdemonstrators in cities across the US.
According to police, Mr Reinoehl was armed with a handgun, and shot in a confrontation with officers. “As they attempted to apprehend him, there was gunfire,” Lieutenant Brady, of Thurston County Sheriffs Office, said.
Addressing a press conference in Washington, Donald Trump praised the marshals, who, he said, “took down an Antifa member who murdered a man in the middle of the street in Portland”. The suspect, Mr Trump added, had been drawing a weapon when marshals tried to take him into custody.
Mr Reinoehl, who in a recent interview described himself as “100 per cent Antifa”, was being sought in connection with the death of Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a supporter of the far Right Patriot Prayer group.
Mr Danielson’s death last weekend was mourned by Donald Trump, the US president, who demanded Portland police arrest the “cold-blooded killer”.
Friends of Mr Reinoehl told The New York Times he was part of the demonstrators’ security team to prevent trouble and keep agitators away. In an interview with Vice News, Mr Reinoehl had said he was acting in self-defence, fearing he was about to be stabbed.
Protesters in Portland congregated outside a police station following his shooting. Despite some chanting, the mood was calm.
Elsewhere, Rochester, a city of just
‘As they attempted to apprehend him, there was gunfire’
over 200,000 in upstate New York, became the latest centre of protests following the death of Daniel Prude, 41, a week after being subdued by police using a spit hood in March.
Mr Prude is understood to have suffered from mental health issues, and police had been called by his brother. Bodycam footage of the incident, in which police pushed Mr Prude’s face into the ground for two minutes, emerged this week. The seven officers involved have been suspended by Lovely Warren, Rochester’s mayor, who said he was “failed by our police department, our mental health care system, our society, and by me”. His family have demanded their dismissal, and prosecution for murder.
Two officers were injured in clashes in Rochester on Thursday in which police fired pepper spray at protesters. In
New York City, at least one person was injured after a car was driven into Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Times Square. It followed clashes between BLM demonstrators and protrump counter-demonstrators.
Mr Trump blamed Democrats for the unrest sweeping the country, but an Abc/ipsos poll showed that 55 per cent of Americans believe he is making the situation worse.