A man suspected of killing a right-wing protester in Portland, Oregon, pointed a handgun at officers before he was shot to death by members of a federal task force trying to arrest him, authorities said Thursday.
Michael Forest Reinoehl had a .380-calibre handgun when he was killed on Sept. 3 near Lacey, Washington, according to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, the lead agency investigating the shooting.
A spent shell casing was found in his vehicle, and an AR-15 style .22-calibre rifle was on the front seat, the sheriff’s office said. The serial number on the rifle had been removed.
Ballistics tests were being done to determine if the handgun he was carrying was the same weapon used in the Aug. 29 fatal shooting of Aaron “Jay” Danielson in Portland.
Members of the Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force, headed by the U.S. Marshals Service, were executing a warrant for Reinoehl’s arrest on second-degree murder and illegal gun charges in connection with the killing of Danielson. Four of those officers shot and killed Reinoehl, authorities have said.
Reinhoehl, 48, was a self-described anti-fascist and Black Lives Matter supporter.
Danielson, 39, a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump and the far-right Patriot Prayer group, was shot and killed Aug. 29 after dueling protests in Portland.
Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock ruled out the possibility that Reinoehl had shot himself.