LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Thursday, April 18, Arkansas legislators will gather for a press conference at the state capitol to demand answers from the ATF about the deadly predawn raid of the home of Bryan Malinowski, executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.
“We want the truth,” said Representative Matt Duffield of Russellville, who represents the 53rd District. “We want the body cam footage. His family deserves to see it. The people of Arkansas deserve to see it. We must learn what happened.”
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin also recently called upon the ATF to release the body camera video footage.
According to reports, ATF agents broke down Malinowski's door at his home in Little Rock to serve a federal search warrant.
The noise awakened Malinowski, who grabbed a weapon and encountered federal agents in a dark hall. He allegedly shot at the agents, striking one of them. That's when authorities said that a second agent then returned fire at Malinowski.
Malinowski died just days later on Thursday, March 21 at noon, according to Shane Carter, the director of public affairs and governmental relations for Clinton National Airport.
Since then, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has released no additional information.
Bud Cummins, the former U.S. Attorney who is representing Mr. Malinowski’s family, has provided video from a neighbor’s Nest camera that captured 10 ATF vehicles approaching his home and from Mr. Malinowski’s Ring doorbell that shows agents arriving at his front door and taping over the doorbell camera.
The family and the legislators want to know whether ATF agents knocked on the front door, identified themselves, or waited a sufficient amount of time before breaking down the door.
More than twenty members of the Arkansas Legislature will join Representative Duffield, Senator Mark Johnson, and Representative Marcus Richmond for the press conference.
The press conference will begin 15 minutes after both chambers adjourn on the second-floor rotunda of the State Capitol.