Portland shooting suspect gives exclusive interview shortly before being killed by police during arrest

Kylie Mar
·Host & Producer, Yahoo Entertainment
Updated ·2 min read

In an exclusive interview with Vice News, which aired on Thursday night, Michael Reinoehl, the man previously linked to the killing of Aaron “Jay” Danielson at a Portland protest on Aug. 29, vaguely stated that what he did was in self-defense.

“I had no choice. I mean, I had a choice. I could have sat there and watched them kill a friend of mine of color. But I wasn't going to do that. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” stated Reinoehl.

Reinoehl continued, “I felt that my life and other people’s lives around me were in danger. And I felt that I had no choice but to do what I did.”

In the interview, Reinoehl alluded to shooting Danielson, a right-wing protestor, when he went downtown to provide security for racial justice protestors following a pro-Trump caravan.

“I realized what had happened. I was confident that I did not hit anyone innocent and I made my exit,” said Reinoehl. When freelance journalist Donovan Farley clarified Reinoehl's statement, saying, “Just to reiterate, you feel that it was totally justified,” Reinoehl responded, “Totally justified. Had I not acted, I’m confident that my friend and, I’m sure, I would have been killed because I wasn’t going to stand there and let something happen.”

“They’re trying to make me look like a murderer,” Reinoehl added. “I’ve noticed that they keep saying that it’s not clear that it's related to the protests. That’s a lie. They know that it's related to the protests. Not to mention the fact that they say they don't know who it was, that's a lie. Within an hour, Facebook and Twitter and all that had my face and name labeled as the shooter.”

However, shortly after the airing of the interview, news broke that Reinoehl was killed when investigators moved in to arrest him in Lacey, Washington. After a warrant was issued for his arrest, Reinoehl was shot by a law enforcement officer who was working on the federal task force, said one official.

While Reinoehl has been labeled by some as a member of Antifa, Reinoehl said that that was not true, but that he did see a “civil war right around the corner.”

“That shot felt like the beginning of a war,” stated Reinoehl.

Vice News airs at 11 p.m. on Vice.

Watch the lawyer for the Kenosha shooter, Kyle Rittenhouse, claiming protesters were ‘relentlessly hunting him as prey’:

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