Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword… Let’s See If Sportsball Players Worship Him Too
Oregon Live By Maxine Bernstein
Michael Forest Reinoehl, sought on a warrant in the fatal weekend shooting of a man in downtown Portland after a pro-Trump rally, was killed Thursday night in Washington as members of a federal fugitive task force tried to take him into custody.
Officers with the U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force were watching an apartment complex near Lacey where they believed Reinoehl was hiding out, according to the Marshals Service. Portland police had issued a warrant for Reinoehl’s arrest on a murder charge earlier in the day.
Reinoehl walked out of the apartment about 7:30 p.m., authorities said.
He ran to a station wagon parked outside the complex, Thurston County Sheriff’s Lt. Ray Brady told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Officers trying to stop him fired rounds into the car, Brady said.
The wagon was boxed in by officers’ cars, prompting Reinoehl to run. He produced a gun and officers fired again, Brady said. Reinoehl died at the scene, his body lying in the street.
Witnesses told The Olympian newspaper that they saw two SUVs pull up and then heard 30 to 50 shots. Two people said they saw Reinoehl begin to fire when he got out of the car. They said officers returned fire.
Four officers fired their weapons, according to Brady. They’re from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, Lakewood Police Department and the Washington Department of Corrections, all assigned to the fugitive task force acting in their role as U.S. marshals, he said.
Under a state law that went into effect in Washington in January, the shooting will be investigated by officers from agencies that weren’t involved, with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office taking the lead, Brady said. Investigators were still at the scene at 11 p.m.
“Initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers,” a Marshals Service spokesperson said in a statement. “Task force members responded to the threat and struck the suspect.”
Officials said they didn’t know why Reinoehl was in Lacey.
