Suspect in Portland protest killing dies in hail of gunfire

LACEY, Wash. — A man who said he believed a civil war was coming to America and was suspected of killing a right-wing protester in Portland, Ore., died in a hail of police gunfire in neighboring Washington state, officials and witnesses said.

The killing of Michael Forest Reinoehl shook a quiet suburb of Olympia, Wash., Thursday evening, with bystanders ducking for cover behind automobiles from dozens of gunshots as four agents serving on a U.S. Marshals Service task force opened fire at Reinoehl.

Reinoehl, 48, was armed with a semi-automatic handgun but authorities have not determined if he fired any shots, said Lt. Ray Brady of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Department.

A video shot during the immediate aftermath showed a man lying motionless on a street next to a row of mailboxes with law enforcement officers in tactical gear and automatic rifles milling around. After a couple of minutes, one man performed chest compressions on Reinoehl.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’s going to make it,” Jashon Spencer narrated on the video that he posted on Facebook showing the scene that unfolded in front of a small apartment complex.

Brady said he did not believe the officers involved in the shooting had body cameras or dashboard cameras on their vehicles.

In a videotaped interview broadcast the evening of his death by Vice News, Reinoehl came close to admitting he shot Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a supporter of a right-wing group, on Aug. 29 after a caravan of President Trump backers drove their pickup trucks through downtown Portland.

Reinoehl said he “had no choice” but to do what he did because he thought he and a friend were about to be stabbed.

“I hate to say it, but I see a civil war right around the corner,” Reinoehl, with a partially covered tattoo of a raised fist on the right side of his neck, said in the interview.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3gY3VsB