Newly released documents explain why federal agents raided the home of the executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, who was killed in an ensuing shootout with those agents.
According to the New York Post, agents carried out the raid because the executive - 53-year-old Bryan Malinowski - was believed to be illegally dealing guns.
The information comes from an affidavit that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) publicly released on Thursday. The document, though, is heavily redacted.
Apparently, ATF agents attempted to serve the warrant on Malinowski - at around 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday - when the firefight broke out. The government claims that someone from inside the house shot first, then agents shot back, striking the alleged shooter, who was later identified as Malinowski.
More details about the purpose of the raid have been reported by the Associated Press.
"In a heavily redacted warrant affidavit released Thursday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Malinowski bought over 150 guns between May 2021 and February 2024 that he resold without a dealer’s license," the outlet reports.
It adds, "Malinowski bought the guns through legal means and checked a box on the purchase form to say they were for himself, according to the document. He would then resell them in as little as 24 hours through gun shows where he maintained a table or through private sales."
Some of the guns that Malinowski sold were found, according to the Associated Press, after being linked to crimes.
Others were purchased from Malinowski by undercover agents.
Malinkowski's family insists that he did not, that the government took things too far. The family said as much in a statement that it recently released.
The Post reports, "Malinowski’s family said that even if the allegations detailed in the ATF affidavit warrant are true, they didn’t justify the use of deadly force."
The outlet then quotes the family as stating, "At worst, Bryan Malinowski, a gun owner and gun enthusiast, stood accused of making private firearm sales to a person who may not have been legally entitled to purchase the guns."
The ATF has not released its own statement on the matter.
Malinowski had been working at Clinton National Airport since at least 2008. It was at this time that he became the director of properties, planning, and development. He would go on to become the deputy director of the airport and then, in 2019, the airport's executive director. The airport is reported to have been flourishing under his leadership.
