Portland shooting suspect killed by task force near Lacey was armed, Sheriff’s Office says
The suspect in the fatal shooting of a right-wing activist in Portland was armed when he was shot and killed by a U.S. Marshals task force near Lacey Thursday evening, a lieutenant with the law enforcement agency investigating the shooting confirmed Friday.
Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock confirmed Friday that the deceased is 48-year-old Michael Forest Reinoehl, who authorities say was a suspect in last weekend’s fatal shooting in Portland.
Reinoehl was armed with a semiautomatic hand gun when officers shot him Thursday evening in the Tanglewilde neighborhood outside Lacey, Thurston County sheriff’s Lt. Ray Brady told The Olympian.
Brady did not confirm whether Reinoehl wielded or fired the weapon, as some witnesses reported. Information does not support witness accounts that he was armed with a rifle, Brady said.
The handgun was recovered from the scene and was the only firearm the suspect had, Brady confirmed.
What we know so far
A clearer picture of what investigators believe happened started to emerge the morning after the shooting, which occurred about 7 p.m. Thursday on the 7600 block of 3rd Way Southeast.
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 U.S. Marshals spokesperson Dave Oney. He was wanted by Multnomah County Circuit Court on a murder charge.
Lt. 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 — understood to be Reinoehl — when they saw him come out of an apartment and to a vehicle. Officers reported he appeared to be armed.
In an interview Friday, Brady told The Olympian he did not know Reinoehl’s relationship to the apartment where he was located. Coroner Warnock said Reinoehl is from the Portland area, and Reinoehl’s Facebook page lists Gresham, Oregon, as his home.
Reinoehl got into a Volkswagen station wagon, Brady said, and started the vehicle. All members of the U.S. Marshals task force also were in vehicles, and vehicles — Brady did not know how many — were moved into position to block the suspect from fleeing.
Officers fired shots into the station wagon, Brady confirmed, and Reinoehl ran from the car, then officers fired more shots.
Reinoehl was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured in the confrontation, Brady said.
Brady did not yet know how many shots were fired. Witnesses at the scene Thursday reported hearing as many as 50 gunshots.
Coroner Warnock told The Olympian that an autopsy is scheduled for next Wednesday, due to the upcoming holiday. Until then, details such as how many times he was shot will not be released.
Four officers fired their weapons, according to Brady. One was from the state Department of Corrections, two were from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and one was from the Lakewood Police Department. All officers on the scene were acting in U.S. Marshal capacity.
The five-county Region 3 Critical Incident Investigation Team is investigating the shooting, led by the 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 U.S. Marshals statement.
What to expect next from investigators
Investigators will know more about what happened after they get more comprehensive statements from the officers involved in the shooting, according to Brady. Until then, information regarding decisions made and stated reasons behind officers’ actions will be unknown.
The general practice for law enforcement agencies, Brady said, is to provide a statement within 72 hours, but “that’s certainly not a hard-and-fast rule” and this happened ahead of a three-day holiday weekend.
State law requires the investigating team to release an update once per week, but Brady said the agencies would release a statement sooner if there’s a major, pertinent development.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Portland shooting suspect killed by task force near Lacey was armed, Sheriff’s Office says."
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