Family of activist killed in alleged ‘spray of bullets’ by US police files lawsuit

The family of Michael Reinoehl, an anti-fascist activist killed by police in 2020 while wanted for fatally shooting an Oregon man during a pro-Trump rally, have filed a lawsuit alleging his civil rights were violated when officers “sprayed more than 40 bullets” outside the apartment complex where he died.

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The federal lawsuit filed on behalf of his children alleges that police killed Reinoehl at the apartment complex in Lacey, Washington, without ever identifying themselves. His family is seeking compensation for pre-death pain and suffering experienced by Reinoehl and for his two children, who they say suffered “permanent and irreparable emotional injury” from their father’s death and the “highly publicized, sensational and political nature” of his killing.

“The actions of the officers, before, during, and after the shooting, show that they either had no plan to arrest the man without injury, made no effort to follow such a plan, or planned to use deadly force from the start,” the lawsuit states.

The controversial circumstances around Reinoehl’s killing have long raised questions, particularly after witnesses and law enforcement officers offered conflicting accounts of what occurred and whether officers identified themselves.

A taskforce led by the US Marshals Service, which was involved in Reinoehl’s death, previously determined that he had been shot and killed after firing a round from a handgun. However, more than 20 witnesses interviewed by the New York Times said they did not hear officers identify themselves or give commands before they started shooting.

Donald Trump, who was president at the time, praised Reinoehl’s death, calling it “retribution”, and said the US marshals “didn’t want to arrest him”.

The activist’s killing came after a summer of unrest in Portland with widespread racial justice protests following the murder of George Floyd, and clashes between far-right groups and leftist protesters.

In one such confrontation, Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a far-right activist, was killed at a pro-Trump car caravan in downtown Portland on 29 August. Trump immediately seized on Danielson’s killing, arguing Portland was a lawless city out of control and urging police to arrest his killer.

Reinoehl, a father of two who said he provided “security” at Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, told Vice News in an interview that he had killed Danielson while acting in self-defense. He said that he had come to the aid of a friend who was surrounded by Trump supporters in what he said was a heavily armed caravan and that a man threatened him and a friend with a knife.

“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,” he said.

Members of the US Marshals Service, the FBI and state and local law enforcement located Reinoehl in Washington on 3 September. The taskforce which oversaw the operation told law enforcement that Reinoehl would be violent and “he would not be taken alive”, according to documents published by Vice.

Officers cornered Reinoehl in his Jetta and fired their weapons, with one officer shooting through his own windshield, according to the lawsuit. The 48-year-old “ducked and ran away from the threat, looking for cover”, the lawsuit states, but made it only a few yards before being “surrounded and gunned down”. He was struck by at least five bullets, according to the lawsuit.

“Law enforcement officers dressed in militia-style fatigues raced a short distance through a quiet residential neighborhood in three unmarked SUVs toward their target: a man they were supposed to arrest,” the lawsuit states. “Without any warning or announcement that they were police, four officers opened fire with automatic assault rifles and handguns.”

Authorities have said Reinoehl tried to fire at officers during the incident, but the lawsuit filed by Reinoehl’s family says that he never even took the gun out of his pocket.

A prosecutor in Washington opted not to file criminal charges against the officers who killed Reinoehl. A judge last year dismissed a federal lawsuit filed by Danielson’s estate against the city of Portland and local officials.