Catherine Rusoff
An Arkansas prosecutor said Friday that a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent was justified when he fatally shot the Little Rock airport director during a raid on his home in March.
Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones said in a letter to the ATF that no charges in the shooting would be filed after reviewing the Arkansas State Police investigation into the murder of Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport Executive Director Bryan Malinowski.
Malinowski, 53, died days after he was shot as ATF agents were executing a warrant on March 19 at his Little Rock home. Someone inside the house fired at the officers and they returned fire, hitting the shooter. The shooter was later identified as Malinowski.
A statement released after the shooting said Malinowski purchased more than 150 guns between May 2021 and February 2024 and that he resold many without a dealer’s license.
In his letter, Jones said officers properly identified themselves with police lights and sirens turned on outdoors before entering and announcing their presence at the front door. He wrote that ATF agents had shields and wore shirts with ATF Police printed on the right side and bulletproof vests with ATF Police printed on the front. Jones wrote that during the operation, one of the agents saw another agent fall to the ground, heard a gunshot and saw Malinowski holding a gun.
“Given the totality of the circumstances, Agent 2 had a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to defend himself and Agent 1,” Jones wrote. “Therefore, Officer 2’s use of deadly force was in accordance with Arkansas law and justified.”
ATF spokeswoman Kristina Mastropasqua called the state’s investigation into the shooting “swift, professional and independent” and said it is now under internal review by the agency.
The Malinowski family called the ATF’s tactics in the operation “completely unnecessary” and complained about the ATF’s lack of detail. An attorney for Malinowski’s family said he was a gun collector and did not know he was under investigation for reselling firearms at gun shows.
Bud Cummins, the family’s attorney, said Friday that questions about the operation were “far from over” despite Jones’ decision. Cummins noted that, according to Jones’ letter, ATF agents waited just 28 seconds after knocking on the Malinowski’s door before they began breaking in.
“How long is it reasonable to expect someone to answer the front door at 6 a.m. in response to loud, unexplained knocking in a fully insulated 3,000-square-foot home? Let’s pray the response isn’t 28 seconds. The Fourth Amendment means more than that for each of us,” Cummins said in a statement.
His death drew criticism from some Republican lawmakers in Arkansas, who asked the ATF for more information, and the chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in April asked the ATF to provide the panel with documents and information about the attack.
mae png
giga loterias
uol pro mail
pro brazilian
camisas growth
700 euro em reais
