Antifa protester linked to shooting death of Patriot Prayer supporter claims self-defense
Antifa protester linked to shooting death of Patriot Prayer supporter in Portland claims he acted in self defense – but witness says victim was shot from behind without provocation
- Michael Reinoehl, 48, broke his silence on Wednesday in video interview
- Cops reportedly suspect him in the fatal shooting of Aaron Danielson in Portland
- Danielson was leaving a rally supporting Trump when he was shot dead
- Now Reinoehl says he acted in self-defense to protect himself and a friend
- He said he feared they would be stabbed, but did not elaborate further
- But Danielson’s friend Chandler Pappas says he was shot from behind
- Pappas said the shots were fired without provocation or exchange of words
By Keith Griffith and Josh Boswell For Dailymail.com and Reuters
Published: 20:19 EDT, 3 September 2020 | Updated: 22:51 EDT, 3 September 2020
An Antifa protester has said he acted in self defense during the fatal shooting of a supporter of a right-wing group in Portland, Oregon – but a witness and friend of the victim has responded that the shooting came from behind without provocation.
‘I had no choice. I mean, I, 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,’ Michael Reinoehl, 48, said in a video interview published by Vice News on Thursday
Aaron ‘Jay’ Danielson, 39, was fatally shot on Saturday as he was leaving a political demonstration in support of President Donald Trump. Reinoehl has not been arrested or charged in the case as yet.
Reinoehl did not say outright that he shot Danielson in the fragment of video shown by Vice News before the full interview is aired on Thursday night, but did say his actions that night were in self-defense.
Antifa member Michael Reinoehl, 48, (above) spoke out in a video interview published by Vice News on Thursday, claiming that he shot Trump supporter Aaron Danielson in self-defense
Danielson’s friend Chandler Pappas (right) said in a separate interview that the shooting occurred from behind and without provocation
The victim of Saturday night’s shooting in Portland was Aaron ‘Jay’ Danielson. He was a member of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer and also used the last name Bishop
Police arrived on the scene ‘within a minute’ of when gunshots rang out. The victim, later identified as Danielson, is seen wearing a hat with the insignia of Patriot Prayer
Vice News reported that Reinoehl said he feared he and his friend would be stabbed, but the portions of the interview released so far do not elaborate on this claim.
However, Chandler Pappas, a friend of Danielson who was standing next to him when he was killed, has blasted Reinoehl’s statements, saying that there was no confrontation or provocation prior to the shooting.
‘I know they will not produce anything to corroborate that story whatsoever,’ Pappas said of Reinoehl’s claims.
‘They came up behind us, they shot my friend and killed him,’ Pappas said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.
‘When they started yelling at us, we turned around. I didn’t even have time to register that someone was pointing a gun at us before those shots went off,’ Pappas said.
Pappas identified the shooter as ‘a white guy’ and noted: ‘He was the only person downtown that night, other than myself, who was wearing a white shirt.’
Pappas said that he was not armed during the incident. He said that a cloud of smoke seen in bystander video of the shooting is from a can of bear mace that Danielson was carrying, which he says was punctured by one of the bullets.
The bystander video of the shooting appears to show Danielson and Pappas crossing the street toward a parking garage, before someone shouts ‘We got another here!’
Another person is heard asking ‘Here?’ immediately before two shots ring out.
Pappas said that no words were exchanged before the shots were fired. He said all he heard before the shots were words to the effect of ‘we got a couple right here’ and someone shouting ‘pull it out.’
Danielson is treated by medics after being shot Saturday in Portland, Oregon. Fights broke out in downtown Portland as a large caravan of supporters of Trump drove through the city
Police are seen holding back Chandler Pappas as medics attempt to revive his friend
Pappas blamed ‘corruption’ and political bias for the lack of charges or arrest in the case so far.
The shooting occurred after a day of tense clashed between Trump supporters and far-left groups in Portland, with activists seen trying to block a vehicles of the Trump supporters, and Trump supporters spraying mace and firing a paintball gun from vehicles.
Reinoehl emerged as a suspect in the case after The Oregonian newspaper reported he was under investigation in the killing, which took place after Danielson, a supporter of the Patriot Prayer group, participated in a rally in support of Trump.
Portland police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reinoehl, a self-declared ‘100% Antifa’, was active in Black Lives Matter demonstrations against racism and police brutality in Portland that have gone on for nearly 100 days, according to messages and videos on his Instagram feed.
Antifa is a far-left movement that is anti-capitalist, and which seeks to confront those it views as racist or authoritarian.
Reinoehl said in posts on Facebook and Instagram he was a professional snowboarder and a U.S. Army veteran and was prepared to fight ‘to change the course of humanity.’
However, a US Army spokesperson told DailyMail.com they searched their service records for a 48-year-old Michael Forest Reinoehl and were ‘unable to locate this individual in our database.’
The Stolen Valor Act of 2013 states it is a federal crime to fraudulently claim military service in order to get money or any other kind of benefit.
In the Vice interview, Reinoehl said that he is a ‘former military contractor’ who provided ‘security’ for Black Lives Matter protests.
‘I am 100% ANTIFA,’ Reinoehl said in a June 16 post, using the term for the anti-fascist movement.
‘We truly have an opportunity right now to fix everything. But it will be a fight like no other! It will be a war and like all wars there will be casualties.’
His Facebook page says he is from Gresham, Oregon, a community around 15 miles east of Portland.
Michael Reinoehl is being reportedly being investigated by Portland police over the killing of Aaron ‘Jay’ Danielson, a member of Patriot Prayer who was shot to death at a protest
Reinoehl is seen left displaying a bruise from a rubber bullet and right snowboarding
In this post, from June 16, he claimed to have served in the army and ‘hated it’. He also wrote he was 100% ‘ANTIFA’ and says ‘We do not want violence but we will not run from it either’
Reinoehl had been previously accused of taking a loaded gun to an earlier Portland protest and social media posts show him attending Black Lives Matter protests.
And the 48-year-old former professional snowboarder has had several previous run-ins with the police.
In June, he was charged for allegedly racing with his 17-year-old son at speeds of up to 111mph on Interstate 84 with his 11-year-old daughter in the passenger seat.
Police said they found ‘usable amounts of marijuana and unidentified prescription pills’ in Reinoehl’s 2005 Cadillac STS and a loaded, concealed Glock pistol.
The father of two was charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a firearm.
The full interview with Reinoehl will air at 11pm ET on Thursday on Vice News Tonight.
