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September 4, 2020

An appropriate resolution to Aaron Danielson's tragic murder

By Andrea Widburg

On August 29, Aaron Danielson, a member of Patriot Prayer and a Trump-supporter, joined a caravan of Trump-supporters that headed into Portland.  When Antifa- and Black Lives Matter–supporters violently attacked the caravan, Danielson and his friends were among those who tried to protect the caravan.

A video showed rioters chasing and trapping the Patriot Prayer members.  Then, out of nowhere, Michael Reinoehl shot Danielson, killing him.  Even though he was identified, Reinoehl remained free, even going so far as to give a self-exculpatory interview to Vice News on Thursday night.  And then, just a few hours later, the news broke that Reinoehl had died in a shootout with marshals who had come to arrest him.  It's worth walking back in time to understand the events that led to Reinoehl's death. 

Immediately after Reinoehl shot Danielson on the 29th, the media worked to portray the pro-Trump parade participants and the Patriot Prayer group as violent white supremacists.  That was anything but true.  The afternoon started with ordinary Trump-supporters driving in a parade of cars up to and into Portland.  A retired police officer and Trump-supporter explained to Victoria Taft that it was a happy, upbeat event until the cars entered downtown Portland:

It was great until we hit downtown Portland and the Antifa/BLM crowd realized what was happening. I was towards the front, but the lines of vehicles went for miles. Once BLM/Antifa realized what was happening, they gathered their numbers and the latter half was attacked with rocks, their car windows were broken, even with children in the car. And then the violence really started, ending with the shooting and killing of a patriot that was wearing a thin blue line flag on a pouch.

That patriot who was killed was Aaron "Jay" Danielson.  He was one of several people who offered to provide some makeshift protection to the pro-Trump caravan.  He carried a paintball gun and a knife.

After the caravan left, protesters and counter-protesters started clashing.  The pivotal video catches someone hollering, "We got a Trumper right here," and then one hears the shots that killed Danielson:

Afterward, Antifa and Black Lives Matter celebrated his death:

It quickly became known that Reinoehl had killed Danielson.  Although white, Reinoehl was so invested in BLM that he had the BLM fist tattooed on his neck.  He also despised Donald Trump and the police.  For some reason, the Portland police made no effort to arrest him.

On Thursday night, Reinoehl let Vice News interview him.  In the interview, he claimed that he was defending a black friend from Danielson, an allegedly crazed racist with a knife:

The problem is that Danielson wasn't a crazed racist.  He was a non-racist patriot:

Because the murder was in Portland, there was no telling how the über-liberal Multnomah County D.A., Mike Schmidt, would have handled the case if the local police had arrested Reinoehl.  He might not have pressed charges, and even if he did press charges, a Portland jury might have felt that killing a Trump-supporter was justified.

However, events took away that concern.  As of this writing, Andy Ngo, who knows these things, tweeted out that Reinoehl died in a shootout with the U.S. Marshalls who had come to arrest him:

By the time you read this, there'll be more information about Reinoehl's death.  What won't change is the fact that this was a very neat resolution to a case that, if it had been tried in Multnomah County, could well have had an outcome cheating Aaron Danielson, his family, and his friends of the justice they deserved.

Image: Mike Reinoehl, from a Vice News video screen grab.

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