A group of Arkansas legislators is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the death of a former airport director. This comes about a year after the family announced plans to sue the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives over the raid.
Bryan Malinowski worked as the executive director of Little Rock's Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport until March 2024, when he died in a shootout with ATF agents.
A search warrant affidavit says Malinowski was selling guns illegally, or without checking buyers' license status.
On Monday, Republican state Sen. Mark Johnson said he still has more questions about the raid than answers.
“The only way any of us in any legislative office can do anything is to work from a position of knowing the truth,” Johnson said in a news conference at the Arkansas State Capitol.
The raid was conducted before sunrise at 6 a.m. on Malinowski’s west Little Rock home. Agents only gave Malinowski a few seconds to come to the door. So, when Malinowski shot and injured an officer, he may not have realized law enforcement was in his home.
Malinowski’s supporters say agents in the raid used unnecessary force.
“Even if the allegations in the affidavit are true,” family attorney Bud Cummins said in 2024, “they don’t begin to justify what happened.”
The raid has long been subject to scrutiny. Two years ago, Sen. Johnson called for body camera footage to be released.
“I get fearful when I see this type of pre-dawn raid simply to execute a search warrant to a valued member of our community,” Johnson told reporters then, “not some former gangster with a rap sheet that needs to have a no-knock warrant issued, perhaps.”
The ATF had footage from outside the house during the raid, but not body-worn camera footage from inside the house.
In 2024, then-ATF Director Steven Dettelbach was called to testify about the raid on Capitol Hill.
“We've implemented it in just a third of our field divisions,” Dettelbach told lawmakers about the bureau's body camera policy.
The letter requesting the investigation is addressed to President Donald Trump, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Republican lawmakers. It lists several unresolved questions about “tactics,” “threat assessment" and “conflicting post-incident narratives.”
On Monday, Malinowski’s widow Maria “Maer” Malinowski thanked signatories of the letter.
“We need answers,” she tearfully told reporters.
About 30 lawmakers signed the letter to the president, including Democratic lawmakers Jamie Scott, Clarke Tucker and Greg Leding.
