Portland shooting suspect Michael Reinoehl was no stranger to protest or confrontation
PORTLAND, Ore. — The man believed to have fatally shot a supporter of President Trump following skirmishes between Black Lives Matter protesters and a pro-Trump caravan in Portland, Ore., was a regular at the demonstrations that have roiled the Pacific Northwest city for months.
Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, who described himself in a social media post as “100% ANTIFA,” had been shot at one protest and cited for having a firearm at another.
Reinoehl was killed Thursday when he allegedly pulled a gun as federal agents confronted him near Lacey, Wash., a senior Justice Department official told the Associated Press. The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Reinoehl’s encounter with federal agents came shortly after he gave a televised interview to Vice News in which he appeared to acknowledge having killed Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39, on Saturday. In the interview, Reinoehl said he “had no choice” but to do what he did because he thought he and his friend were about to be stabbed.
“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 the news program. “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.”
Reinoehl’s Instagram feed includes photos from several Portland protests, including one of a bruise he said he sustained after being struck by a bean bag. He suggested that the tactics of counterprotesters amounted to “warfare.”
Armed right-wing activists have started descending on Black Lives Matter protests in the name of President Trump.
His sister said in a text message to the AP that she told police he appeared to be a person caught on video running from the scene of the fatal shooting. She provided the statement on the condition of anonymity, citing dozens of threats her family had received since people online identified her brother from a video of the shooting.
Danielson was fatally shot in the chest Aug. 29 after a caravan of Trump supporters, estimated at about 600 cars, encountered Black Lives Matter protesters as they drove through downtown Portland. Skirmishes ensued. Video taken by a bystander appeared to show Danielson, a member of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer, spraying pepper spray just before he was shot.
On July 5, police cited Reinoehl on allegations of possessing a loaded gun in a public place, resisting arrest and interfering with police.
On July 26, he was shot in the arm, near his elbow, after getting involved in a scuffle between an armed white man and a group of young people of color. The man who was carrying the gun, Aaron Scott Collins, told the Oregonian/OregonLive that he and a friend had just left a bar when they saw the group harassing an older Black man. His friend began filming them with a phone, and the group confronted them, calling them Nazis, he said.
The first job of government authorities is to protect the public from harm, even — or especially — when they are asserting their rights of expression.
In the ensuing scuffle, Collins said, he was struck in the head with a skateboard and fell down. He felt people trying to grab his gun from its holster, and he decided to pull it out to get control of it. Reinoehl, whom he did not know, then began grabbing at the slide, Collins said.
Reinoehl spoke later that day to an AP videographer. His arm was wrapped in a bloody bandage; he said he was on his way to meet protest medics so they could change the dressing.
He said he didn’t know what had started the confrontation between Collins and the group of young people, but that several people had decided to intervene when they saw Collins fighting with minors.
“As soon as the adults jumped in, he pulled out a gun,” Reinoehl said. “I jumped in there and pulled the gun away from people’s heads, avoided being shot in the stomach, and I got shot in the arm.”
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He added: “It’s escalating to a point where they’re trying to disrupt us in every way that’s illegal. They’re shooting at us, they’re sending people in who are starting fights. It’s terrible. ... It’s warfare.”
Reinoehl was also wanted on a warrant out of Baker County in eastern Oregon, where court records show he skipped a hearing related to a case in June in which he was charged with driving under the influence of controlled substances, reckless driving, reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Police said he drove on an interstate at up to 111 mph, with his daughter in the car, while racing his 17-year-old son, who was in a different vehicle. His daughter also has attended protests with him; at one, she was photographed carrying a baseball bat.
“I’m trying to give her an education,” he told the AP. “She’s going to be contributing to running this new country that we’re fighting for.”
Trump hopes violence at protests will generate a backlash against Democrats; opponents accuse him of inciting more violence with his rhetoric.
Reinoehl wrote on his Facebook page that he was a professional snowboarder for Deviation, a Portland ski and snowboard company, and he posted several videos of himself and his son snowboarding. But in a statement Monday, Deviation said Reinoehl had never been an employee or sponsored athlete of the company.
One friend who knows Reinoehl through snowboarding said he had been sponsored by various companies over the years and had sometimes won “big air” competitions — to the point that his nickname became “Big Mike.” The friend described him as “a really nice guy, a gentle giant” who sometimes fashioned himself into “a defender role.”
The friend spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing threats he had received online. He had sent Reinoehl a message recently to ask if he was all right; Reinoehl did not respond, he said.
In her text message, Reinoehl’s sister said that she and her brother were never close and that she had been estranged from him for the past three years. She said she learned about his potential involvement in the shooting when she received a threatening phone call Sunday — the first of 60 that day.
She added: “Violence and hate are never acceptable. ... When people use violence to fight for peace and equality, all we get is more violence, and the cause suffers.”
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