Suspect in Portland killing of far-right protester 'shot dead' by US marshals

A suspect in the killing of a far-right demonstrator in Portland, Oregon, was shot dead by law enforcement officers late on Thursday night, officials said.

Related: Breadth of rightwing Portland protest network reveals energized Trump base

Michael Forest Reinoehl, 48, was shot by a federally led fugitive task force as he left an apartment in Lacey, in Washington state south of Seattle, said Pierce county sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer, according to the Olympian news site.

Four officers fired shots, officials said. A witness who was walking his dog in the area was quoted by the Olympian as hearing 30 to 40 shots being fired after two SUVs pulled up outside a block.

“As they attempted to apprehend him, there was gunfire,” Lt Ray Brady of the Thurston county sheriff’s office told the New York Times.

On Friday, the US attorney general, William Barr, echoed Donald Trump’s central re-election campaign theme when he heralded “a significant accomplishment in the ongoing effort to restore law and order to Portland and other cities”.

The details of Reinoehl’s killing remained unclear. Brady said officers reported Reinoehl was armed and had entered a vehicle when he was shot, but neither detail had been confirmed.

An arrest warrant had been issued earlier in the day. Reinoehl, a regular attendee of anti-racism protests in Portland, was suspected of killing Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39, a supporter of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, which staged a counter-demonstration in Portland last Saturday.

The counter-protesters drove through blocks occupied by demonstrators in large trucks with Trump flags, some firing paintball guns at the anti-racism activists.

Reinoehl is alleged to have fired on Danielson. In an interview published in Vice on Thursday, Reinoehl, described as an army veteran and father of two, claimed he and a friend faced an assailant armed with a knife and said he acted in self-defense.

“You know, lots of lawyers suggest that I shouldn’t even be saying anything, but I feel it’s important that the world at least gets a little bit of what’s really going on,” Reinoehl said. “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.”

Critics of Trump accuse him of fueling tensions by sending unmarked federal troops to arrest demonstrators, by exaggerating violence in the city, and by cheerleading counter-protesters who have come from out of town to confront demonstrators.

In his statement, Barr said: “I applaud the outstanding cooperation among federal, state and local law enforcement, particularly the fugitive task force team that located Reinoehl and prevented him from escaping justice.

“The streets of our cities are safer with this violent agitator removed, and the actions that led to his location are an unmistakable demonstration that the United States will be governed by law, not violent mobs.”

Barr has consistently blamed antifa, a loose movement that purportedly stands against fascism, for much of the violence during nationwide demonstrations. But federal officials have so far provided scant evidence to support that claim and the vast majority of such protests – 93%, according to one report – have been peaceful.

A friend of Danielson, who lived in Portland, told CNN he was not an agitator but a “freedom-loving American”. Joey Gibson, the organizer of the Patriot Prayer group, said in a Facebook post: “We love Jay and he had such a huge heart. God bless him and the life he lived.”

On Monday it emerged that Portland police were reported to have launched a homicide investigation focused on a BLM supporter.

On Thursday night, Brady said, the Pierce county fugitive apprehension team, working with US marshals, was looking for a wanted homicide suspect when they saw him come out of an apartment. They said he appeared to be armed.

“The suspect came out to the car,” Troyer said. “They attempted to put him into custody and shots were fired.”

Trump, who highlighted Danielson’s death in tweets earlier in the week and defended the use of paintballs against anti-racism protesters, posted on Twitter moments before the story broke: “Why aren’t the Portland Police ARRESTING the cold blooded killer of Aaron ‘Jay’ Danielson.”

Agencies contributed to this report