President Donald Trump praised the killing of Michael Forest Reinoehl by a Department of Justice fugitive task force.
He was wanted for the fatal shooting of Aaron “Jay” Danielson, who was a member of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, which had organized a Trump caravan through Portland. Reinoehl had claimed the shooting was in self-defense.
"When police last week surrounded Michael Forest Reinoehl, a self-described anti-fascist suspected of fatally shooting a member of a far-right group in Portland, Ore., the wanted man wasn’t obviously armed, a witness to the scene said Wednesday," The Washington Postreported Thursday. "In fact, according to Nate Dinguss, Reinoehl was clutching a cellphone and eating a gummy worm as he walked to his car outside an apartment complex in Lacey, Wash. That’s when officers opened fire without first announcing themselves or trying to arrest him, Dinguss, a 39-year-old who lives in the apartment complex, said in a statement shared with The Washington Post."
Trump discussed the shooting during an interview with Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro that aired Saturday evening.
"This guy was a violent criminal, and the US Marshals killed him. And I will tell you something -- that's the way it has to be. There has to be retribution when you have crime like this," Trump argued.