Federal agents reportedly killed Portland shooting suspect Michael Reinoehl

Michael Reinoehl
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Vice News)

Federal agents shot and killed Michael Reinoehl, the main suspect in the fatal shooting of a member of a far-right group on Saturday night, while trying to arrest him Thursday, The New York Times and other news organizations report. Portland police had issued a warrant for Reinoehl's arrest earlier in the day. When officers on a federal fugitive task force tracked him down to an apartment in Lacey, Washington, Reinoehl pulled a gun, a senior Justice Department official told The Associated Press. Witnesses told the Times that Reinoehl was getting into a vehicle to escape.

Reinoehl, 48, more or less confessed Thursday to shooting Aaron "Jay" Danielson in a confrontation after supporters of President Trump drove trucks through downtown Portland, but he insisted he was acting in self-defense. "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 a freelance videographer for Vice News Tonight. "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."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.