A hail of bullets
Protester-shooting suspect killed as task force seeks arrest.
LACEY, Wash. — Michael Forest Reinoehl, the man who was suspected of killing a right-wing protester in Portland, Ore., and who was shot and killed by police in neighboring Washington state, had said he believed a civil war was coming to America.
The killing of Reinoehl shook a quiet suburb of Olympia, Wash., Thursday night, with bystanders ducking for cover behind automobiles from dozens of gunshots as four members of a U.S. Marshals Service task force opened fire.
“The fugitive task force located Reinoehl in Olympia and attempted to peacefully arrest him,” Jurgen Soekhoe, a U.S. Marshals spokesman, said in a statement. “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.”
Reinoehl, 48, was armed with a semi-automatic handgun, but authorities have not determined if he fired any shots, said Lt. Ray Brady of the Thurston County sheriff’s office.
In a news conference late Thursday, Brady said the shooting happened after members of the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force approached a “known homicide suspect” outside an apartment complex.
A video shot during the immediate aftermath showed a man lying motionless on a street next to a row of mailboxes with law enforcement officers in tactical gear and automatic rifles milling around. After a couple of minutes, one man performed chest compressions on Reinoehl.
“Yeah, I don’t think he’s going to make it,” Jashon Spencer narrated on the video that he posted on Facebook showing the scene that unfolded.
Brady said he did not believe the officers involved in the shooting had body cameras or dashboard cameras on their vehicles.
In a videotaped interview broadcast the evening of his death by Vice News, Reinoehl came close to admitting he shot Aaron “Jay” Danielson on Aug. 29 after a caravan of President Donald Trump backers drove their pickups through downtown Portland.
Reinoehl said he “had no choice” but to do what he did because he thought he and a friend were about to be stabbed.
“I hate to say it, but I see a civil war right around the corner,” Reinoehl, with a partially covered tattoo of a raised fist on the right side of his neck, said in the interview.
He told Vice News he was an anti-fascist but was not a member of antifa, an umbrella description for far-left-leaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations and other events. Reinoehl previously described himself in a social media post as “100% ANTIFA.”
It was not immediately clear where Reinoehl hid out in the five days that elapsed since the shooting in Portland.
Brady said the suspect who was killed — he declined to name him as Reinoehl — left an apartment about 7 p.m. Thursday, got into a vehicle and was confronted by the task force members. They fired into the vehicle, then Reinoehl got out and ran and was shot, Brady said.
Federal agents from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service had located Reinoehl on Thursday after a warrant was issued for his arrest and Reinoehl pulled a gun during the encounter, a senior Justice Department official in Washington said. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task forces — comprising deputy marshals, other federal agents and local law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies — are responsible for apprehending violent felons and other wanted suspects.
The four officers who fired their weapons were from the Washington State Department of Corrections, the Pierce County sheriff’s office and the Lakewood Police Department. U.S. Marshals were present, but did not fire their weapons, Brady said. No law enforcement officers were injured during the confrontation.
Brady said he doesn’t think the suspect lived at the address where he was shot.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr praised agents for finding Reinoehl, who frequently participated in violent protests.
Records show that police in Portland cited Reinoehl on July 5 on allegations of possessing a loaded gun in a public place, resisting arrest and interfering with police.
On July 26, Reinoehl was shot near his elbow after he got involved in a scuffle in the city between an armed white man and a group of young people of color.
Reinoehl also was wanted on an eastern Oregon warrant, where court records show he skipped a hearing related to a June case in which he was charged with driving under the influence of controlled substances, reckless driving, reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of a firearm.