State and local law enforcement working for a U.S. Marshals task force fired 30 bullets at Michael Reinoehl right after cornering him in unmarked SUVs outside an apartment in Lacey, Washington, on Sept. 3.
The police were supposed to apprehend Reinoehl for the shooting a far-right activist in Portland, Oregon. After they killed Reinoehl, police found a handgun in his pocket, The New York Times reports. Only one of the 22 witnesses interviewed by the Times said they heard police say anything before they opened fire, raising "questions about whether law enforcement officers made any serious attempt to arrest Mr. Reinoehl before killing him." At least four eyewitnesses said police started firing immediately, and several said they initially thought the police were gang members.
"I respect cops to the utmost, but things were definitely in no way, shape, or form done properly," said Garrett Louis, a former U.S. Army medic whose 8-year-old son was nearly shot in the hail of police gunfire. "There was no, 'Get out of the car!' There was no, 'Stop!' There was no nothing. They just got out of the car and started shooting." Another witness, Chad Smith, offered a similar account: "There was no yelling. There was no screaming. There was no altercation. It was just straight to gunshots."
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Angel Romero, who lives right near the shooting, told the Times one of the five bullets that hit his property passed through his dining room, narrowly missing his brother before lodging in the kitchen wall. The Times mapped out the entire incident, based on interviews and unreleased police testimony.
The officers on the scene offered conflicting accounts of whether Rienoehl ever reached for his gun, but none said they saw him fire it. Reinoehl said in an interview on the day he was killed that he shot Patriot Prayer activist Aaron Danielson in self-defense. A self-described supporter of the anti-fascist cause, Rienoehl, 48, had provided security for Black Lives Matter protesters, watching out for agitators and threats.
Attorney General William Barr called the operation that killed Rienoehl a "significant accomplishment" that removed a "violent agitator" who had "produced a firearm." President Trump later told Fox News that law enforcement gunning down Rienoehl is "the way it has to be. There has to be retribution when you have crime like this." The local sheriff's office is leading an ongoing investigation of the raid.
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