The chair of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee wants answers from a federal law enforcement agency involved in the fatal shooting of Little Rock’s airport director in March.
In a Monday letter to Steven Dettelbach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio asked the ATF to provide all documents, communications and audio related to the search warrant-related raid on the home of Bryan Malinowski on March 19, 2024.
Also on Monday, April 22, 2024 Arkansas State Police said in a news release that it had turned over its investigative case file of the Malinowski shooting to the 6th Judicial District prosecuting attorney’s office in Little Rock.
Malinowski, 53, reportedly fired on ATF agents as they broke into his home shortly before dawn. Agents returned fire, with one of the bullets striking the airport executive in the head. He died the next day. Malinowski had been executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport since 2019.
Jordan’s letter to the ATF chief said the raid and Malinowski’s subsequent death, coupled with related ATF rulemaking, raise “serious questions about the weaponization of the agency against Americans.”
“Mr. Malinowski exercised his Second Amendment rights and was a firearms enthusiast,” Jordan wrote. “Even if, as ATF has alleged, Mr. Malinowski violated federal law, it does not justify ATF’s actions that ultimately led to the use of deadly force.”
An affidavit filed in U.S. District Court to support the warrant to search Malinowski’s home alleged he had bought as many as 150 guns, most of them pistols, over four years and resold many to individuals despite having signed a document saying he would not do so.
Malinowski’s family, state legislators and Arkansas’ two senators have all raised questions about what happened, the necessity of serving a search warrant on a well-known individual at night and whether the federal agents followed procedure and wore body cameras.
On Friday, April 19, 2024, Sens. Tom Cotton and John Boozman issued a statement saying that the Department of Justice confirmed that ATF agents involved in executing the search warrant at Malinowski’s home weren’t wearing body cameras.
“We will continue to press the department to explain how this violation of its own policy could’ve happened and to disclose the full circumstances of this tragedy,” their joint statement said.
Jordan’s letter noted that the publicly reported circumstances of the airport director’s death raise questions about whether ATF agents followed proper protocol. The letter notes that Justice Department policy and a presidential executive order requires ATF agents to wear active body cameras while executing a search warrant.
Jordan also noted that it is “unclear whether ATF agents complied with Justice Department policy on ‘no knock’ entries.” That policy, issued in 2021, directs federal law enforcement agencies to limit entering a dwelling without complying with the “knock and announce” rule because of the risk to both law enforcement and civilians.
The policy, issued by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, said “no knock” entry should be restricted to occasions when an “agent has reasonable grounds to believe … that knocking and announcing the agent’s presence would create an imminent threat of physical violence to the agent and/or another person,” Jordan’s letter quotes from the policy.
Jordan’s letter goes on to say that the raid on Malinowski’s home coincided with ATF’s “implementation of a regulation to restrict the right to private lawful sales of firearms.”
The congressman contends that “ATF seeks to drastically expand the universe of Americans who would be classified as a ‘dealer’ under federal law requiring them to obtain a license to become a Federal Firearms Licensee.” Those who are required to obtain a license are subject to up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Jordan’s letter asks the ATF to provide the requested documents and other information to the Judiciary Committee by 5 p.m. on May 6, 2024.
GROWING ANGER WITH AFT
Before Cotton and Boozman confirmed that ATF agents did not wear body cameras during the raid, about two dozen Arkansas legislators last week called on the federal agency to release the body-camera footage.
“Were they wearing required body cameras? If not, why not? And where the hell is the footage?” Rep. Matt Duffield, R-Russellville, asked during the Thursday afternoon news conference in the Capitol.
The only video of that raid that had been released was from the Malinowskis’ doorbell camera, which showed agents in body armor and carrying ballistic shields approaching before one of them disabled the camera with a piece of tape.
“Why is no one talking?” Duffield asked Thursday. “Do they not understand that the longer they wait to explain, the more suspicious and cynical the public becomes about the ATF and its actions?”
In this case, he said, the ATF has “run roughshod over the civil rights of Arkansas citizens, and some contend gotten away with cold-blooded murder.”
He said Malinowski only did what any Arkansan would have done if awakened from sleep and fearful of a home invasion.
Bud Cummins, a former U.S. attorney now in private practice who has been acting as a spokesman for Malinowski’s family, said Malinowski’s family is pleased to know people care about what happened on March 19.
“I’ve never been involved in my public life in something where so many people have sought me out to express their feelings and concerns,” Cummins said in an interview after the news conference.
The concerns he’s heard have come from gun rights advocates as well as people who think law enforcement officers may have overreacted to the threat Malinowski posed, he said.
CLICK HERE to see more news at Arkansas Advocate, an affiliate of States Newsroom.
Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit news operation. It depends on private support to produce high-quality journalism without advertising, subscription fees or paywalls. Donations allow Arkansas Advocate to expand coverage, purchase equipment and fight for open records. Your donation to Arkansas Advocate is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. CLICK HERE to donate.
