Michael Forest Reinoehl, a suspect in the fatal shooting of a supporter of a right-wing group in Portland, was killed by the law enforcement agencies while resisting arrest. Reinoehl, an antifa supporter, was fatally shot by a team from federal fugitive task force in Lacey, Washington.
Reinoehl, 48, had shot Aaron 'Jay' Danielson, a 'Patriot Prayer' group member and Trump supporter, in the chest following US President Donald Trump's visit to Portland last week.
Reinoehl Was Carrying a Gun, Resisted Arrest
Reinoehl, who was the prime suspect in the Danielson killing, was killed after the federal task force moved to arrest him. Speaking to The New York Times, Lt. Ray Brady of the Thurston County Sheriff's Office said that the law enforcement team was in the area looking for a homicide suspect who exited an apartment building and entered into a vehicle. The Portland police had issued an arrest warrant for Reinoehl on Thursday.
"As they attempted to apprehend him, there was gunfire," said the official adding that the four law enforcement officers fired their weapons. The officer also revealed that the Sheriff's Office was informed that the suspect was carrying a gun.
Following the shootout, the entrance to an apartment complex was blocked off by the law enforcement agencies. Speaking to the outlet, Trevor Brown, who lives nearby and saw Reinoehl lying on the ground, said that he heard several shots fired before he looked out the window and saw as many as four police officers in the road, who fired three or four times.
Reinoehl Had Said He Had No Choice While Shooting Danielson
A strong supporter and regular at the ongoing protests in Portland, Reinoehl had often said on social media that there would be casualties in a war. Earlier in June Reinoehl accepted being an Antifa member in a post on Instagram. "I am 100% ANTIFA all the way! I am willing to fight for my brothers and sisters! Even if some of them are too ignorant to realize what antifa truly stands for. We do not want violence but we will not run from it either!" he had written in his post.
Hours before he was killed in a police shootout, Reinoehl, during an interview with VICE News, said that he killed Danielson in an act of self defence. He said that Danielson was about to stab him and his friend. "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. 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," Reinoehl had said.
Earlier on July 5, Reinoehl was charged with resisting arrest and possession of a loaded firearm, by the cops. However the case was dropped later.
