Law enforcement agents killed Michael Forest Reinoehl while trying to arrest him for the shooting death of a supporter of a far-right group.
Inside an apartment on a quiet suburban street near Lacey, Wash., on Thursday evening, Michael Forest Reinoehl fretted about his future. He talked about his children in a telephone call to a friend, wondering how to keep them safe should anything happen to him. Outside, the F. B. I. kept watch. Moments later, U. S. Marshals and local law enforcement agents, with an arrest affidavit that accused Mr. Reinoehl of the shooting death last week of a far-right activist, raced toward the brick apartment building in two S. U. V.s. Mr. Reinoehl,48, a self-identified proponent of Antifa and a regular presence at the long-running protests against racial injustice in Portland, had seemed to confess to the killing in an interview with a journalist released hours earlier. He also said that he feared being killed in custody. Soon after he emerged from the apartment, he was dead, shot and killed by law enforcement agents. The U. S. Marshals Service said in a statement that Mr. Reinoehl was armed with a handgun when they arrived and threatened the lives of officers. But many details remain unknown, including whether Mr. Reinoehl fired any shots before or after several law enforcement officers opened fire. Lt. Ray Brady of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said he was not aware of any video footage of the shooting, including from body cameras. On Thursday evening, as Mr. Reinoehl lay dead in the street, police radios crackled with reports that shots had been fired. “Someone, the caller, hysterical saying someone opened fire and a female is screaming,” said one dispatcher, according to a transcript of the police transmissions. Jashon Spencer, who lives nearby, said he went outside after hearing gunshots and saw a bloodied man in the street. A video he filmed showed a law enforcement officer attempting first aid. Portland police had issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Reinoehl in the killing of Aaron J. Danielson, a supporter of a far-right group who was shot dead last Saturday after participating in a pro-Trump caravan and then taking to the streets of downtown Portland, where members of the caravan and their opponents clashed. In an affidavit from Mr. Reinoehl’s arrest warrant, released Friday, authorities describe surveillance footage showing Mr. Reinoehl and Mr. Danielson first walking along a sidewalk, apparently without confrontation. Mr. Danielson was already carrying a can in one hand — possibly mace — and what appears to be an expandable baton in the other. The footage shows Mr. Reinoehl turning into a parking garage, reached into a pouch or waistband, and waited for Mr. Danielson and a friend to pass, according to the documents. Authorities said Mr. Reinoehl followed the two men as they crossed the street in the seconds before the shooting Both Mr.
