Michael Reinoehl, Portland shooting suspect, shot dead by federal task force during arrest attempt
LACEY, WASHINGTON: The shooting suspect and self-declared member of Antifa, accused of killing a far-right supporter last weekend was reportedly killed during a police encounter on Thursday, September 3, night as they attempted to arrest him.
Federal agents were attempting to take him into custody in Lacey, Washington, when Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, died. A spokesperson for the Pierce County Sheriff's Department said officers responded to a home in Lacey were they had reports that the suspect was staying. Reinoehl fled on foot and got into a car when the law enforcement officers attempted to take him into custody. Gunfire ensued and the suspect was killed. No officers were injured in the shooting.
He was initially identified by many far-right group supporters on Twitter.
The shooter has been identified as Michael Reinoehl, ex pro snowboarder and ex Army. https://t.co/Qm7yPIgrlG
— Tara LaRosa (@TaraLaRosa) August 30, 2020
He was killed on the same night his recorded interview on the shooting aired on Vice News. In the interview, he said that during the August 29 protests in Portland, he shot Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39, in self-defense. “Had I not acted. I’m confident that my friend — and I’m sure I – would have been killed,” Reinoehl told Vice News. “I wasn’t going to stand there and let something happen."
Reinoehl added in the same interview that his fatal shot “felt like the start of war'' and that he lamented the direction the country was heading. “Honestly, I hate to say it but I see a civil war right around the corner. That shot felt like the beginning of a war,” he added.
The ex-army man, who had gone to Portland in order to provide security for Black Lives Matter protesters. At one point, the protesters started rallying against a pro-Trump caravan that was making its way through the city. Not going into details as to why he thought his life was in danger, Reinoehl said, “Well honestly, those are…details that I probably don’t want to get into other than just simply saying I realized what happened. I was confident that I did not hit anyone innocent and I made my exit.”
We previously reported that Reinoehl posted videos and photos of protests he attended since late June, after the death of George Floyd on May 25, accompanied by the hashtags #blacklivesmatter, #anewnation and #breonnataylor. In at least one of those posts, he declared himself an anti-fascist or ANTIFA.
In one Instagram post, he wrote "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! If the police continue to pick on and beat up innocent citizens that are peacefully voicing their objections, it must be met with equal force!"
However, in the Vice interview, he was antifascist, but not an official member of Antifa. “If you just look at the basic definition of it, it’s just antifascist – and I’m 100 percent antifascist,” he said. “I’m not a member of Antifa. I’m not a member of anything.” He added that although he was once proud of his country, it had presently dissolved into anger and fear.
“I used to really love this country and I respected the flag and everything that it represented,” he added. “But because of all this, every time I see a big truck, especially with the flag on it, I immediately think they’re out to get me.”