The suspect in the fatal shooting of a right-wing supporter in Portland was shot and killed by a U.S. Marshals task force near Lacey Thursday evening.
The shooting occurred in the 7600 block of 3rd Way Southeast in Tanglewilde about 7 p.m.
Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer confirmed the man who was killed is 48-year-old Michael Forest Reinoehl, the suspect in last weekend’s fatal shooting. The Portland Police Bureau had issued a warrant for Reinoehl’s arrest earlier Thursday and asked the U.S. Marshals to find and apprehend him, according to an emailed statement from USMS spokesperson Dave Oney.
Thurston County sheriff’s Lt. Ray Brady said the Pierce County sheriff’s fugitive apprehension team, working as part of the U.S. Marshals Service Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force, was in the area looking for a wanted homicide suspect when they saw the suspect come out of an apartment, to a vehicle. They said he appeared to be armed.
“The suspect came out to the car,” Troyer said. “They attempted to put him into custody and shots were fired.”
There was “a confrontation” between the officers on scene and the man, Brady said. Officers fired shots into the vehicle and the suspect ran from the car, Brady confirmed, then officers fired more shots.
As of 10 p.m., Brady had not yet confirmed whether the suspect fired a weapon at law enforcement officers.
Reinoehl was pronounced dead at the scene.
Brady confirmed that four officers fired their weapons. The officers were from the state Department of Corrections, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and Lakewood Police Department. All officers on the scene were acting in U.S. Marshal capacity Thursday, according to Brady.
No officers were injured in the confrontation, Brady said.
The five-county Region 3 Critical Incident Investigation Team is investigating the shooting, led by Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. No officers from the departments on the investigative team were at the scene at the time of the shooting, according to Brady.
It’s a U.S. Marshals Service policy not to release the names of deputy marshals involved in shootings until the investigation is complete, according to the prepared USMS statement.
Chad Smith and Chase Cutler, who were working on cars nearby Thursday, said an unmarked SUV had been parked on School Street for a while when that SUV and another converged on a man in a vehicle at the apartment complex. Smith and Cutler moved onto a grassy area about 50 yards away to watch what was happening.
The man got out of his vehicle and began to fire what they believe was an assault rifle at the SUVs. They said they heard 40 or 50 shots, then officers returned fire, hitting the man.
“It reminded me of a video game,” Cutler said.
News reporters have been trying to piece together what happened in Portland on Aug. 29. What is known is a caravan of supporters of President Trump traveled through Portland, clashing with counter-protesters. A man was shot and killed during the unrest.
According to the New York Times, supporters of the president had gathered at a shopping center a few miles southeast of Portland. The caravan of hundreds of trucks then traveled on freeways skirting the center of the city. Most were flying “Trump 2020” or thin blue line flags, which are commonly associated with support for the police and often seen as antithetical to the Black Lives Matter movement. Some of the trucks diverted into the downtown.
The caravan clashed with counter-protesters at times. People shot paintball guns from trucks and protesters threw objects at them. Some conflicts erupted into fistfights. A video showed a small group in the street, where gunfire erupts and a man collapses, the New York Times reported.
