When the Political Divide Turned Deadly in Portland
The two middle-aged white men shared a common backstory: Both were raised in the rural Pacific Northwest and found a sense of greater purpose and belonging on opposite sides of radical politics. Then both ended up dead.
By Bryan Denson for ProPublica and Conrad Wilson, Oregon Public Broadcasting
Nov. 2, 2020, 9 am EST
Shortly after sunset on the day he would die, Aaron “Jay” Danielson and his Patriot Prayer comrade Chandler Pappas walked through downtown Portland, Oregon, toward the epicenter of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that had gripped the city for 93 consecutive days.
The far-right activists had ridden into town that afternoon in the back of a pickup, armed for battle and part of a miles-long caravan in support of President Donald Trump. They’d been jeered at and hit with bear spray, and some in their crowd had returned the favor, firing mace and shooting paintballs at racial justice protesters. And now, after a warm late-summer day of laughter and hard drinking, they headed once again downtown, where hundreds had gathered outside the boarded-up police headquarters and the U.S. courthouse, blanketed in graffiti.
By 8:44 p.m. the two men, both quite drunk, had closed to within four blocks of the demonstrations. Neither took notice of Michael Reinoehl, the tall, gangly man in front of them, who had spied the duo over his shoulder and now ducked into the entrance of a parking garage. Reinoehl, his movements captured by a nearby security camera, hid behind a concrete wall, right hand hovering over a holstered .380-caliber pistol.
He watched as the two men passed, Danielson dressed in khaki cargo shorts and a Patriot Prayer ball cap.
At that moment, Danielson gripped a collapsible baton in his left hand, a can of bear spray in his right. He also had a fully loaded Glock 17 in a holster and his pockets held another three magazines — 71 rounds in all. A toxicology test would later reveal that Danielson’s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit to drive in Oregon. But on video, the strapping man with the ginger beard does not appear to wobble.
Reinoehl stalked into the street with the .380 in his right hand while waving his left hand in the air. Another man striding next to him in a black sweatshirt with the anti-police slogan “Fuck 12” also waved. They appeared to be summoning others.
“Hey,” one shouted, “we got him right here! We got a couple right here.”
Danielson turned toward the shouts and lifted the can of bear mace.
“He pulled it out!” someone shouted.
Reinoehl leveled his pistol from about 40 feet away. Danielson took one full running stride, right arm extended, and fired a cloud of bear mace in front of him. A split-second later, a bullet struck the canister in Danielson’s hand. Then, on his next stride, another slug traveling at 1,000 feet per second drilled through his chest, lungs and aorta. He staggered a few steps before crumpling to the pavement. He died in minutes.
The United States is entering an election week thick with the potential for violence, with federal officials worried that Portland and Seattle could be flashpoints because of the presence of well-armed extremists on both sides and the history of street clashes in both cities — including the Aug. 29 confrontation between Danielson and Reinoehl. Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica have taken a close look at how the two men arrived at the crucial moments before shots were fired. That encounter, a drunk man who inexplicably charged at someone brandishing a loaded pistol, offers a glimpse at how easily America’s deep political divide can turn deadly.