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Who is Michael Reinoehl? Portland shooting suspect who called himself '100% Antifa' killed during arrest

Officials said he was shot dead by a team of US Marshals and local police as they attempted to make the arrest

PORTLAND, OREGON: Michael Forest Reinoehl, who was being investigated after he allegedly shot and killed a far-right demonstrator after a pro-Trump rally on August 29, was killed by officers during arrest on September 3.

The 48-year-old was killed on Thursday night during an encounter in Lacey, Washington, southwest of Seattle, when a federal fugitive task force moved to apprehend him, officials told the New York Times. Officials said he was shot dead by a team of US Marshals and local police as they attempted to make the arrest. 

Oregon Live said he was accused of fatally shooting Aaron Danielson who also went by the name Jay Bishop, a member of a conservative group called Patriot Prayer, who was engaged in counter-demonstrations and was helping the Trump caravan with security. It was during the current protests that a caravan featuring 600 vehicles carrying Trump’s supporters driving through Portland faced resistance from the counter-protesters and soon skirmishes broke out. Around 15 minutes after the caravan left the city, Danielson got shot. Reinoehl, who attended Black Lives Matter demonstrations and allegedly took a loaded gun to an earlier Portland protest, was one of the members who clashed with the pro-Trump group when it was met with far-left counter-protesters. 

In his Instagram page, Reinoehl had 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 had declared himself an anti-fascist or ANTIFA. 

In one Instagram post, he had wrote: "Every Revolution needs people that are willing and ready to fight. 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 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! 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!" a part of the extended post said, which ended with hashtags like "#Antifa #blaklivesmatter #fuckthepolice".

He was identified by many far-right group supporters on Twitter.

Reinoehl, who was born in Sandy, held multiple addresses in Northeast Portland, Gresham and Clackamas. Both in social media as well as in a video interview with Bloomberg QuickTake News, he had described himself as a professional snowboarder and contractor who has had military experience in the past but “hated” his time in the army.

Photos and video captured him leaving the shooting scene shortly before 9 pm on August 29. Although the police have not officially revealed his identity, Oregon Live spoke to members of his family, who confirmed that the man seen in the footage was Reinoehl. His 36-year-old sister told the outlet that on August 30 morning she received a threatening phone call from an anonymous caller who told her that "our whole family was in danger unless we turned him over". "That’s how I found out," she said speaking about the possibility of her brother being involved in the shooting. 

After she reported the phone call to the police, she went online and saw screenshots of the video which showed her brother. She then called the Portland detectives to inform them of the same. "We reached out to police and confirmed that we recognized Michael in the screenshots," she said. Her name was not revealed due to security concerns.

For the last three years, Reinoehl had been estranged from his family. "On the one hand, this whole thing surprises the daylights out of us, because we always thought he is a lot of bark, not a lot of bite," she said. "But he’s also been very impulsive and irrational."

He was a man steeped in debt and often provides the authorities with his relatives’ addresses as his own to avoid responsibility, she said. He had also split from his partner and had a son and a daughter. "I have friends, family and loved ones on both sides of the conflict," Reinoehl’s sister said. "Violence begets violence and hatred begets hatred. This is not the solution. My heart goes out to the victim. It always has, before I even knew my brother was involved."

He also had multiple warrants out against him, including driving under the influence of a controlled substance, recklessly endangering another, unlawful possession of a gun and driving while suspended and uninsured. Back in 2005, he was stopped by the police while driving with his 11-year-old daughter. Police said they found marijuana, "unidentified prescription pills" and an unlicensed loaded Glock pistol in his car. 

His last Instagram post was a video of a demonstration which was captioned: "F*** Donald Trump #blacklivesmatter #breonnataylor #anewnation." Another photo on Instagram showed a demonstrator on a statute that had the words "No Gestapo" painted on it. "He replaced the statue," Reinoehl wrote.

The suspect's Facebook page is filled with videos and photos of him snowboarding at Mt Hood Meadows, sometimes accompanied by his son. Oregon Live also dug up many old posts dating back to 2015. One of them shows a Trump face painted on the wall of a restroom with a urinal in place of the mouth. Another post shows a poster of Malala Yousafzai with the quote: "With guns you can kill terrorists. With education, you can kill terrorism."