Compiled from news sources with commentary. Updated 9/5/20.
For weeks, rightwing and leftist agitators clashed in Portland, Oregon, then the inevitable happened: Someone got killed.
Two men, both vigilantes “providing security” for demonstrators, but from opposing camps and radically different in their ideologies, met their deaths 4 days apart as a result of crossing paths on a dark downtown Portland street.
Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39 (photo right), a member of the rightwing Patriot Prayer vigilante group, was shot dead by Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48 (photo left), a self-described “antifa,” on Saturday night, August 29, 2020, in a downtown area where altercations were occurring between protesters and counter-protesters after a pro-Trump caravan drove through the city.
The shooter and the victim were on foot. The shooting is hard to see in the only video that has surfaced, which is of poor quality, because of distance and passing cars. According to police affidavits, Reinoehl was following Danielson and ducked into a garage.
Danielson was carrying a can of bear spray (mace) and an expandable metal baton in his hands, and a holstered 9mm pistol on waist. We may surmise Reinoehl saw Danielson’s gun and took cover in the garage for that reason.
He and a companion were approached by three black men, one of whom said, “We’re going to f—–g kill you.” Then two shots are heard from Danielson’s right.
The first shot struck the can, releasing mace. The autopsy showed the second shot was fired from Danielson’s front and hit him in the chest. An individual believed to be Reinoehl is then seen running away in the video. A single .380 casing was recovered at the scene.
Earlier that day, Zane Sparling, a reporter from the Portland Tribune, tweeted a photo of Chandler Pappas, a Patriot Prayer member with Danielson when he was killed, and another man, and said they were armed with “guns and knives” to “stop these people from assaulting” counter-protesters (click on image to enlarge).
The other man in the tweet is dressed the same as the shooting victim in photos of the shooting scene, and there’s little doubt he’s Danielson.
A couple days later, Reinoehl virtually admitted shooting Danielson in an interview, claiming he acted in self-defense because Danielson was attacking his companion with a knife. In light of Sparling’s tweet saying Pappas and the man presumed to be Danielson were armed with knives, this is plausible.
Then, on Thursday, September 3, 2020, Reinoehl was killed by police trying to arrest him for murder at an apartment complex in Lacey, Washington, about 110 miles north of Portland on Interstate 5. Police said Reinoehl was trying to escape in a car and brandished a handgun. He may have committed suicide-by-cop.
Had Reinhoel allowed himself to be arrested, a lawyer possibly could have argued he was justified in shooting Danielson. But Reinoehl didn’t seem like the kind of person who would trust “the system” to give him a fair trial. And he wouldn’t have been a sympathetic figure to a jury. A plea bargain (to manslaughter) was more likely. He would have gotten prison time, but gotten out in a few years.
Reinoehl had been caught twice before with a handgun in preceding weeks. On June 8, 2020, he and his teenage son were arrested by a state trooper for racing their cars at 111 mph on Interstate 84, the highway through Columbia Gorge, and Reinoehl was also cited for reckless endangerment, unlawful possession of a loaded Glock pistol, driving under the influence of a controlled substance, under a suspended license, and without insurance. (Read that story here.) On July 5, 2020, he was cited for carrying a gun, resisting arrest, and interfering with police during another Portland protest.
In the interview, Reinoehl referred to himself as “100% antifa,” but denied being affiliated with any group, and cast himself as someone who provided “security” for BLM protesters. Which makes him a vigilante. Less is known about Danielson at this point, but Patriot Prayer is a group that seeks confrontations, and Danielson is seen in the photograph above with an AK-47, so he’s no innocent bystander. And he was carrying a gun when he was shot. He was a vigilante, too.
Vigilantism isn’t self-defense. People have a right to protect themselves and their property, but Danielson wasn’t doing that when he was shot. He was in the streets looking for confrontation. So was Reinoehl. This is madness. Two people with agendas, both armed, hunting each other. Neither of them had any business being there, or doing that. This isn’t about legal rights; it’s about common sense. If anyone wants to get technical about legal rights, I’ll reply that neither of them has legal rights anymore; only their estates do.
I have little sympathy for these men. Their families, yes, I feel sorry for them. They didn’t deserve this, and now they have to live with it.