He was found just outside Seattle
Michael Forest Reinoehl, the Antifa member who was suspected of killing a Trump-supporting demonstrator in Portland, was killed by law enforcement agents who came to arrest him in Washington state Thursday, Fox News reported.
A federal fugitive task force comprised of FBI agents, U.S. Marshals, Lakewood Police, Pierce County Sheriff's deputies, and the Washington State Department of Corrections was attempting to arrest Reinoehl on a murder warrant for the Aug. 29 killing of Aaron Danielson, who was a supporter of the conservative group Patriot Prayer.
What happened?
Reinoehl reportedly pulled a weapon when he was confronted by law enforcement, and multiple officers opened fire.
"Initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers," a statement by the U.S. Marshals Service said. "Task force members responded to the threat and struck the suspect who was pronounced dead at the scene."
Thurston County Sheriff's Office Lt. Ray Brady told the New York Timesthat four officers shot at Reinoehl.
How did we get here?
A pro-Trump caravan drove through Portland, Oregon, on Aug. 29, at the same time as Black Lives Matter and Antifa were protesting. The two groups clashed downtown, and Danielson, who was wearing a Patriot Prayer hat and a Blue Lives Matter satchel, was shot in the chest and killed.
Those who were with Danielson at the time believe they were targeted for their conservative beliefs.
"We have a First Amendment in this country," Chandler Pappas told the Common Sense Conservative. "And for whatever reason, there seems to be this opposition that thinks we can't do that. They have been attacking us for years. Really for decades in the grand scheme of things but very heavily in Portland."
Conflicts, sometimes violent, between right- and left-wing groups have been an ongoing issue in Portland for years.
Admitted to the shooting?
A Vice News interview with Reinoehl was published earlier the same day he was killed. Reinoehl told Vice he believed he was being hunted.
Reinoehl also said he believed he killed Danielson in self-defense because he and his friend were about to be attacked.
"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," Reinoehl told Vice. "I had no choice. I mean, 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 described himself as "100% Antifa all the way" on social media and expressed a willingness to "fight for my brothers and sisters."
"We do not want violence but we do not run from it either!" he wrote in a June 16 social media post.
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