PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A federal judge in Washington has dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the estate of Michael Reinoehl, a wanted man who was killed by the U.S. Marshals Service Task Force in 2020.

In 2023, Reinoehl’s estate filed the lawsuit, alleging police in Washington had no other plans than to use deadly force against him.

Reinoehl, 48, was killed as a federal task force attempted to apprehend him in Lacey, Washington, near Olympia.

Reinoehl, who identified as an anti-fascist, was suspected of fatally shooting 39-year-old Aaron

“Jay” Danielson, a supporter of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer, after a demonstration supporting Trump in downtown Portland the week before.

Federal agents from the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service located Reinoehl after a warrant was issued for his arrest earlier the same day. Detectives obtained the second-degree murder warrant through a Multnomah County judge, according to the Portland Police Bureau. However, the bureau said its officers were not present during the attempted arrest.

Instead, Washington state and local police were operating as a U.S. Marshals Service task force.

As reported by the Associated Press, officers in “militia-style fatigues” raced through a residential neighborhood in unmarked vehicles, then shot and killed Reinoehl as he exited his vehicle, grazed a child playing nearby and struck other vehicles, fences, buildings and homes, the lawsuit claimed.

In 2020, the U.S. Marshals Service sent a statement to KOIN 6 News, saying: “The fugitive task force located Reinoehl in Olympia and attempted to peacefully arrest him. Initial reports indicate the suspect produced a firearm, threatening the lives of law enforcement officers. Task force members responded to the threat and struck the suspect who was pronounced dead at the scene.”

However, lawyers representing Reinoehl’s estate argued that authorities had no visible identification as law enforcement officers, were not heard by any neighborhood residents to identify themselves and gave Reinoehl no opportunity to surrender.

In his decision — which was issued March 4 and first reported on by The Oregonian — U.S. District Judge David Estudillo ruled, in part, that the court does not have the authority to decide if the plan to arrest Reinoehl was adequate.

“The Court finds that the USMS Special Deputies here were acting under color of federal law. The record shows that this operation was federal throughout,” the decision reads in part. “It is clear that there was some plan to arrest Reinoehl and some command structure. Whether those plans were sufficiently thorough or properly accounted for the risks of the arrest is the kind of policy judgement that the discretionary function exception denies this Court jurisdiction to consider.”

“This court’s role is not to decide if (USMS’ Violent Offender Task Force’s) plan was a good plan, or a complete or thorough one that adequately accounted for all risks and contingencies – that is the kind of second guessing that the (Federal Tort Claims Act) does not permit the court to engage in,” Judge Estudillo continued.

A spokesperson for Washington State Patrol declined to comment on the dismissed lawsuit.

KOIN 6 News reached out to attorneys representing Reinoehl’s estate, the United States Department of Justice, the City of Lakewood (which was named in the lawsuit) along with Pierce County. This story will be updated if we receive a response.

Prior to his death, Reinoehl had described himself in a social media post as “100% ANTIFA,” suggested the tactics of counter-protesters amounted to “warfare,” and had been shot at one protest and cited for having a gun at another.

He had been a regular presence at anti-racism demonstrations in Portland.

As reported by the Associated Press, Trump lauded the manhunt for Reinoehl on Twitter, calling on police to “Do your job, and do it fast,” just before Reinoehl was killed.