Sheriff Says Michael Reinoehl, Suspected in Portland Protest Killing, Was Armed When Officers Shot Him

The sheriff's office in Thurston County, Wash., this afternoon said that Michael Reinoehl, the Portland antifascist suspected of killing a Trump supporter in August, pointed a gun at federal task force officers the night they shot him to death.

"The Region 3 CIIT [Critical Incident Investigation Team] can confirm at this point that Mr. Reinoehl pointed the handgun he had in his possession at officers at the time of the shooting," the sheriff's office press release says.

A federal task force shot and killed Reinoehl on Sept. 3 as officers moved to arrest him at an apartment complex outside Lacey, Wash. Witnesses have provided conflicting accounts of whether Reinoehl was armed or fired at police.

The sheriff's office said the gun Reineohl was carrying was a .380 caliber handgun—the same caliber as the weapon Reinoehl allegedly used to kill Aaron J. Danielson shortly after a Trump truck caravan rolled through Portland on Aug. 28. The sheriff's office says it's not sure whether it's the same gun.

They also said they aren't sure whether Reinoehl fired at the federal task force before officers killed him. "Detectives located a fired shell casing in the vehicle that is the same caliber as the firearm in Mr. Reinoehl's possession," the release says. "We are not able to determine at this time it is an exact match to the firearm in his possession even though it is the same caliber."

The sheriff's office says that none of the officers who moved in to arrest Reinoehl was carrying a weapon of that caliber.

Reinoehl confessed to fatally shooting Danielson in an interview with Vice News that aired the same hour he was killed Sept. 3. Reinoehl said he shot in self-defense. An arrest warrant issued by the Portland Police Bureau cast doubt on that claim, using security video that appeared to show Reinoehl waiting for Danielson to pass him on the street, then pursuing him.

The killing further escalated tensions in a city where three months of racial justice protests drew a federal crackdown and the attention of right-wing paramilitary groups.

President Donald Trump has celebrated the killing of Reinoehl by the federal task force as "retribution."