LACEY, WASHINGTON • Law enforcement agents shot and killed an Antifa supporter as they moved to arrest him in the fatal shooting of a right-wing activist who was part of a pro-Trump caravan in Portland, Oregon, officials said.
The suspect, Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, was shot by officers from a federally led fugitive task force on Thursday during the encounter in Lacey, Washington, south-west of Seattle, according to four law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.
Lieutenant Ray Brady of the Thurston County Sheriff's Office said in an interview that the suspect being sought by the law enforcement team had exited an apartment and got into a vehicle. "As they attempted to apprehend him, there was gunfire," he said.
He said four law enforcement officers fired their weapons. Lt Brady added that officers at the scene reported that the suspect was armed but that investigators had not confirmed that as of early yesterday.
After the shooting, several hundred protesters in Portland gathered in front of a police station in a residential neighbourhood, chanting racial justice slogans as they have on most nights since May, although the mood shortly before midnight was relatively calm.
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday called for "expeditious" answers from an investigation into the death of Mr Daniel Prude, a black man, after Rochester police put a hood over his head and asphyxiated him while arresting him in March.
Mr Prude's family released on Wednesday body camera footage from his arrest in March, showing a group of officers putting a hood over his head as he knelt on the ground, handcuffed and naked, apparently to prevent his spit from transmitting the novel coronavirus.
"For the sake of Mr Prude's family and the greater Rochester community, I am calling for this case to be concluded as expeditiously as possible. For that to occur, we need the full and timely cooperation of the Rochester Police Department and I trust it will fully comply," Mr Cuomo said.
Mr Prude's family has called for the arrest of the officers involved in his death, which came seven days after the incident. Mr Prude was 41.
The Monroe County medical examiner ruled Mr Prude's death a homicide caused by "complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint", according to an autopsy report, the New York Times reported.
NYTIMES, REUTERS
