A Portland man who was killed Thursday night while authorities attempted to apprehend him appeared to admit he was responsible for the fatal shooting of a supporter of a right-wing group during clashes between pro-Trump groups and left-wing protesters in the Oregon city.
The task force located him in Olympia and attempted to arrest him peacefully. «Initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers. Task force members responded to the threat and struck the suspect who was pronounced dead at the scene,» the statement said. None of the task force members were injured. In an interview broadcast Thursday night by Vice News, Michael Reinoehl,48, appeared to take responsibility for the killing of Aaron «Jay» Danielson at the Portland protest, alleging that he acted in self-defense because he and a 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 said. «I had no choice. I mean, 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.» In the interview, conducted with freelance journalist Donovan Farley, Reinoehl said he went downtown Saturday night to provide «security» after seeing a caravan of hundreds of Trump supporters parading in vehicles through the city. He described himself as «100 percent anti-fascist,» though not a member of any Antifa group. Danielson, who was a supporter of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, was shot in the chest during the confrontation and died. After the shooting, Reinoehl said he realized what had happened and «was confident that I did not hit anyone innocent.» He then left the scene feeling «totally justified [that] had I not acted I am confident that my friend, and I’m sure I, would have been killed.» Reinoehl said he had decided to speak out because «there’s been a lot of propaganda put out there.» «What they’ve done is they’ve tried to make it look like we’re all terrorists. And they’re trying to make me look like a murderer,» he said. The interview was broadcast as officers moved to apprehend him in Lacey, Washington, according to a federal law enforcement source familiar with the incident. President Trump tweets about suspect President Trump, apparently reacting to the interview, tweeted moments after the broadcast: «Why aren’t the Portland Police ARRESTING the cold blooded killer of Aaron «Jay» Danielson.
