House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is now actively investigating the circumstances of a deadly federal law enforcement raid on the home of Little Rock, Arkansas, airport director Bryan Malinowski on March 19.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF’s) Little Rock field office had suspected Mr. Malinowski—executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport—of selling firearms without a license and without conducting background checks. The ATF had obtained a warrant to search his home and arrived at the man’s home at about 6 a.m. on March 19 wearing full tactical gear.
The exact sequence of events after the federal agents entered Mr. Malinowski’s home remains unclear, but there was an exchange of gunfire and he was struck at least once in the head. He died of his wounds two days later.
On April 22, Mr. Jordan wrote to ATF Director Steven Dettelbach demanding that his agency turn over records relating to the deadly raid.
“The circumstances of Mr. Malinowski’s death raise questions about whether the ATF followed proper protocol during the execution of this search warrant,” Mr. Jordan’s letter reads.
Mr. Jordan said the March 19 ATF raid may have also run afoul of a DOJ policy, announced by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in September 2021, requiring federal agents to limit their use of so-called no-knock entry tactics. Her policy memorandum states that no-knock entries may be used only when a requesting agency believes that there is a threat of violence, and an agent must first get supervisory approval from both a federal prosecutor and the agent’s law enforcement component before using no-knock entry tactics.
It’s unclear whether the ATF agencies followed the normal “knock and announce” procedures or whether they forced their way into Mr. Malinowski’s home with no-knock tactics.
The Malinowski family contends that there’s no evidence suggesting that ATF agents identified themselves before they entered the home. The family further contends that Mr. Malinowski and his wife, Maer, believed intruders were breaking into their home on the morning of March 19 and that he loaded a handgun as he went to inspect the commotion.
Bud Cummins, an attorney representing the Malinowski family, has argued that the decision by ATF agents to cover the doorbell camera also appears counterproductive if their intent was to announce themselves before the raid.
“ATF has not explained why it resorted to a no knock entry of Mr. Malinowski’s home when it could have peacefully executed the warrant while he was away from his residence,” Mr. Jordan’s letter to the ATF director reads.
Mr. Jordan called on Mr. Dettelbach to turn over all documents relating to the planning and execution of the search warrant on Mr. Malinowski’s home on March 19. This request includes any audio recordings that may have been captured during the raid in the absence of body camera footage.
Mr. Jordan also called for the ATF to account for its lack of body camera footage from the raid. He asked the agency to disclose the number of “no knock” entries they had conducted since Ms. Monaco posted her September 2021 memorandum on such practices.
He asked the ATF director to provide the records by May 6.
NTD News reached out to the ATF and the DOJ for comment about the March 19 raid.
“As is standard practice, this matter is under review by state authorities in Arkansas,” an ATF spokesperson said on April 22. “The Department of Justice does not comment on pending matters.”
The DOJ did not respond to this request for comment.
