U.S. Marshals shot and killed Michael Reinoehl the same day that Vice News Tonight aired an interview in which he defended his killing of Patriot Prayer member Aaron Danielson a.k.a. Jay Bishop. Reinoehl torpedoed his self defense claim in the interview, so we don't know if that is why Portland Police issued a warrant for his arrest earlier today. We do know that the U.S. Marshals moved in to arrest him and killed him in Lacey, Washington.
We do not know of he was armed or if there is any video of his death. We do know that U.S. Marshals do not wear body cameras, so they can murder people and claim self defense without being held liable. No matter what happened the U.S. Marshals will say that they were justified and unless there was some independent footage of it they will get away with this shooting. Marshals are notorious for coming up on suspect with their guns drawn and threatening to shoot them if they so much as move a muscle. If he so much as tried run into a house or run they would have shot him and said they feared for their life. Hopefully some footage can be found of this shooting.
This could have been suicide by police though. Reinoehl torpedoed his self defense claim earlier today when Vice News Tonight aired him giving a story that made no sense (https://copblaster.com/blast/25949/michael-reinoehl-says-he-killed-aaron-danielson-in-self-defense) given the video evidence. We did an in depth as to why we didn't think he had a valid claim anymore due to that interview. To sum it up, he said that he acted to defend a person of color that he thought Danielson was going to stab. We could find no such likely victim in the footage of the incident.
This could also have been a targeted hit by the feds. The feds may have feared that had they not killed Reinoehl that he would have continued to use his case to support the need for a second American civil war. Reinoehl discussed the need for a second American civil war which is a sentiment shared by politically aware Americans. A second American civil war appears necessary to secure the existence of our rights and a future free of tyranny for American children. Reinoehl seemed to hope that he had fired the next shot heard around the world. Time will tell if he was right.
The Pierce County Sheriff's Officer told the media that the shooting took place during a traffic stop. We hope that means there will be dash cam footage to show the killing. We have yet to hear of any conduct that would have justified firing on the vehicle. It is not enough to say that he would not show them his hands, to justify the shooting they would have to see him make an aggressive move.
UPDATE: In this video https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1301747569911971840 from after the shooting you can see the police performing CPR on Reinoehl. The man shooting the video says "they lit his a$$ up" and that he heard so many shots he thought is was fireworks like firecrackers. Now the question is, did he have a gun in the car? If so did he try to use it and if not what possible justification do the police have?
UPDATE: We have changed the source link to an article that describes the killing with more details. Sounds like Reinoehl was under surveillance by a violent offender task force led by the U.S. Marshals; They observed him leaving an apartment and entering a vehicle; He got into a vehicle trying to leave; The task force boxed him in and he was shot trying to flee on foot. It is not known if he fired at the officers, but he is said to have been armed with a handgun not a rifle as some media outlets have reported. Hopefully the local task force members were wearing body cameras because if all Reinoehl did was try to flee then the shooting is not justified.
UPDATE: A brave witness has come forward saying that the U.S. Marshals that killed Michael Reinoehl never gave him any commands before opening fire. 39 year old ordained minster Nathaniel Dingess came forward through a lawyer saying that he fears for his safety and that of his family for speaking out against the feds. He says that he witnessed Reinoehl holding a cell phone as he walked towards his car and two unmarked cars boxed him in. He says the Reinoehl tried to duck for cover, never got into the vehicle, the officer finally issued a stop order, and that was it. He never says that he witnessed Reinoehl brandish a gun and certainly does not accuse Reinoehl of trying to shoot any of the officers. His attorney is calling for an independent investigation.