The ATF went to Bryan Malinowski’s West Little Rock home last month, spoiling for a gunfight, and they got one. Now, a good man is dead – the latest victim of ATF’s overly aggressive tactics and complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.
ATF has yet to comment officially on the March 19 killing, other to claim Malinowski fired first. But Malinowski’s family recently released a statement which confirms what everyone already knew: It is extremely unlikely that the 53-year-old airport executive knew he was trading gunfire with federal agents. It is far more likely Malinowski believed he was defending himself and his wife from armed home invaders.
“Bryan Malinowski was asleep but rose to the sound of the door crashing and located a firearm. His wife believed the noise must have been intruders and she fully believes her husband thought the same. He loaded a magazine into a pistol and emerged from the master bedroom into a hallway leading indirectly to the front entryway. He reached a corner in the hall and looked around it to see several unidentifiable figures already several steps inside his home,” Malinowski’s family said in the statement. “We do not know who shot first but it appears that Bryan shot approximately three times at a decidedly low angle, probably at the feet of the intruders who were roughly 30 feet away.”
ATF agents shot Malinowski in the head with a carbine at least once. He lingered for two days and then died from his wounds. ATF did not immediately release his body, so the family was not able to donate his organs.
Tactically Unsound
The Malinowski family described ATF’s tactics as “reckless and incompetent, and completely unnecessary.”
In their statement, the family points out that ATF had Malinowski under surveillance for days. They had surreptitiously installed a GPS tracker on his vehicle, and undercover ATF agents had made several controlled buys from him at gun shows. More importantly, they knew where he worked and where he lived. They didn’t need to raid his home at zero dark thirty.
“At this stage there is no publicly available evidence showing whether agents knocked on the door or announced their presence, adequately identifying themselves,” the statement reads. “Bryan’s wife Maer only heard loud banging immediately followed by the crash of the front door being forced open.”
ATF had a host of less-lethal arrest options available, any one of which would have spared Malinowski’s life.
They could have arrested him at the Clinton National Airport, where he served as executive director. They could have pulled him over on his way home and arrested him in his vehicle. They could have called Malinowski’s attorney and told him to turn in his client.
If agents were dead set on confronting Malinowski at his home, a callout would have been much safer for all involved. Once the home was surrounded, agents could have contacted Malinowski on his cellphone – they knew the number since they had a warrant to search his phone – and ordered him to come out with his hands up. If he didn’t answer his phone, a bullhorn would have sufficed.
A video from a neighbor’s doorbell camera shows that agents arrived at Malinowski’s home in 10 separate vehicles. If they would have activated the emergency lights in all of these squad cars, Malinowski’s entire neighborhood would have been bathed in red flashing lights. Malinowski would have known immediately there were law enforcement officers stacked outside his home and not criminal home invaders.
Finally, agents could have simply slowed down and waited for Malinowski to answer the door, rather than breaching and storming in, which caused the armed confrontation.
“Absent exigent circumstances (danger of losing evidence-drugs down the toilet; propensity for violence or escape) case law requires law enforcement officers to give dwelling occupants a reasonable time to come to the door and let them in,” Malinowski’s family said in their statement.
Unfortunately, ATF’s raid planners chose the most dangerous option – the one tactic most likely to end in gunfire – that any seasoned tactical officer would utilize only as a final course of action, after all else had failed.
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Potential Charges
Malinowski did not have a Federal Firearm License, yet he routinely sold firearms at gun shows. In their search warrant affidavit, ATF suspected he was “a person engaged in the business of selling firearms,” which his family points out is difficult to define.
“A private seller may do so until such time they cross a subjectively defined barrier becoming ‘a person engaged in the business of selling firearms.’ As stated, there is no bright line test. It is a subjective test. A citizen’s ability to sell firearms without a license is sometimes referred to as the ‘gun show loophole,’” their statement reads. “Mr. Malinowski’s family and close friends don’t think he had any inkling ATF was concerned about his gun show sales. They are all confident that he would have never jeopardized his career in airport management by knowingly flaunting a regulation pertaining to his weekend hobby.”
Malinowski’s attorney correctly noted that if he had been convicted of his crime, Malinowski would likely have received probation or even pre-trial diversion, not a prison sentence, but such speculation is moot. Malinowski will never have the opportunity to answer ATF’s accusations.
“It would be grossly improper for anyone to suggest any U.S. citizen guilty of any crime based only on the contents of an affidavit in a warrant application. Even so, in the search warrant affidavit Bryan Malinowski is never accused of knowingly selling any gun to anyone he shouldn’t have. It only suggests he (perhaps unknowingly) crossed a subjective line which put him in a different class of weekend gun seller and obligated him to buy a $200 FFL license,” the family stated.
Takeaways
If a tactical team botched a raid this badly at any real law enforcement agency, careers would end and heads would roll.
At ATF, who knows?
If there even is an internal review, the outcome will be preordained. Awards, commendations and promotions will be showered upon all participants. Never mind that a life was taken – an innocent man was killed because ATF leadership is obsessed with using their SWAT teams.
These type of needless killings will continue. That much is certain. ATF has never learned from its mistakes. Neither Ruby Ridge nor Waco taught them anything about the proper application of force.
In a similar raid last year, more than a dozen ATF agents wearing tactical gear and armed with AR-15s stormed the rural Oklahoma home of Russell Fincher, a high school history teacher, a Baptist pastor and a parttime gun dealer. Thankfully, no one was injured or killed during the confrontation. However, at the time we predicted that if ATF continued deploying its SWAT teams haphazardly, without direction or proper planning – escalating rather than de-escalating situations – someone would be killed. Eight months later, Malinowski was shot to death in his home.
Who holds ATF accountable? The Biden-Harris administration certainly won’t. ATF leadership is operating under the administration’s explicit orders. Their agents have become foot soldiers in Joe Biden’s war on our guns.
Unless the agency and its leadership are held accountable, only one question remains: Who will ATF shoot next?
This story is presented by the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and wouldn’t be possible without you. Please click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support more pro-gun stories like this.
About Lee Williams
Lee Williams, who is also known as “The Gun Writer,” is the chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project. Until recently, he was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. He’s earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.
Who will ATF MURDER Next? There, fixed it for you.
Updated!
Hey, just wanted to share another account of BATF overreach and incompetence. Thankfully, this guy survived. By all accounts, not just his, he was involved in nothing of a criminal nature.
https://www.wistv.com/2024/04/27/lawsuit-richland-county-man-wrongfully-indicted-arrested-drug-gun-crimes/
These guys are out of control
There are probably multiple posters on here with targets on our backs.
I’d venture to guess FBI classifies all of us as VMEs simply because we read AmmoLand. Once FBI labels us as Violent Militant Extremists – ATF considers it a green light. While I’d guess they have to find a hint of behavior bordering on illegal (under their rules as opposed to law) then you become a target. Until then they will simply monitor you (online and IRL) – looking for an excuse to send a death squad your way. I suggest coordinating with neighbors so that there’s at least a chance death squad will disappear, never to be heard from… Read more »
I hear this concern from many in the gun community. Just shows how well ATF performed in victim selection. None of us is enough “cleaner” to think we are safe, and most of us can identify enough with Malinowski to fear being treated the same. This raid was carried out for express purpose of murdering Malinowski, in order to induce fear in the rest of the gun community. Violence to induce fear for political ends is the very definition of terrorism. Hopefully congress can rein them in and disband the gang of thieves, but given demo support that seems unlikely.… Read more »
STOP NO KNOCK WARRANTS!
99.9% of NKW are only an opportunity for LEOs to play commando. Maybe we need to go back to the Peace officer and get away from the LAW ENFORCEMENT. Who do you serve the People or the Law?
“Peace Officer” vs “Law Enforcement”…EXACTLY!
Words Matter!!!
Even in our old Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) doctrine in the Marine Corps we practiced principles like proportionate force and restraint. Since 2001 those principles have been lost on federal law enforcement and many metro agencies. I know we had lost this game when my local sheriff’s department asked me if could come down and PM and time their M-2 Browning .50 cal machine guns. When I asked the Lt why they had M-2’s he told me they came with the MRAP assault vehicles they just got out of MCLB Barstow, my old digs. At that time I… Read more »
Did you do it or tell them to figure it out on their own?
“The fake “Law”.
They serve their government masters.
Too bad Mr Malinowski wasn’t an African-American citizen. That way he, more than likely, would have been treated more civilly, and rightly so. Instead, this horror hardly made the news. Re-elect Biden and you’ll get more of this with his “Justice Department”.
If he was black it would be all over the news, there would be peaceful protests in the streets all over America because odds are it was a white cop that shot him, in the head. No intention shown of trying to capture the individual or wound him with a chest shot to take him out of commission and capture him, just flat out kill him. Rev. Al would be there at the house consoling the widow, Jesse would say something about mistreatment of black people by the cops and if he had been white, this would have been handled… Read more »
You mean those peaceful protests where they riot, set things on fire and smash business owners windows and loot their shops?
and beat up news reporters that show the truth about who is doing what, the bicyclists trapping the people against them with their bikes and then pelting them with, frozen water bottles, Molotov cocktails, bike chains with locks and skateboards, and fire works just like they did the cops and most peaceful action of all was when they killed a Trump supporter.
Ya, those kind of peaceful protests.
The never let a crisis go to waste crowd.
Fail to catch the sarcasm? We all know just how peaceful the “mostly peaceful protests” were.
Yes, and a deviant Homosexual or radical aggressive hateful Lesbian. It would be all over the top newspapers as the New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angles Times, Tampa Bay Times, News Week, etc. Joy Behar, Colbert, Kimmel, would never let it down.
The ATF knew about all the other options for arresting Mr Malinowski. They purposely rejected them and chose the option that would end in a gunfight. It’s the outcome they wanted and intentionally engineered. Why? The notorious publicity… “Screw with the ATF regs and get an early morning SWAT raid.” Had Malinowski just been arrested, the story doesn’t make the front page and disappears quickly. There’s no deterrent value in that. The SWAT raid/death by gunfight is the punishment, the front page story is the deterrent. How bent must the SWAT team’s moral compass be that they willingly “jocked up”… Read more »
Also more proof of PSYCHOPATHIS in enforcement positions. Who could shoot a boy in the back and sleep just fine? PSYCHOPATHS. Who could shoot a mother in the head while holding her baby? PSYCHOPATHS. Who could burn a church down around 17 little children and innocent people? PSYCHOPATHS. WHY do we let PSYCHOPATHS run our world?
When hiring for law enforcement, those who show a tendency to blindly follow orders are selected over those who don’t.
Post Waco, when the Clinton Administration considered disbanding BATFE, there was concern about what to eventually do with BATFE’s employees who had civil service protection. The FBI didn’t want them, regarding them as trigger happy cowboys. So the idea was quietly dropped.
How many US citizens will lose their lives, summarily executed by BATFE, because their agents are considered pariahs by other law enforcement agencies?
A website needs to be put up with addresses of ATF offices for amusement purposes only.
Can these DOMESTIC TERRORIST, acting under the color of law, be addressed exactly the same as to how the Supreme Court Judges’ homes were addressed?
Perhaps force proportional to what they apply? Individuals who burn down structures with people in them should have their own home erupt in a fireball – while they and their family are home. Those who simply shoot puppies should only be gut shot. Let them survive with life altering injuries so they can contemplate their crimes.
I’d guess first retaliation would trigger broad and extensive reprisals from BATFE – but by time a dozen agents have perished along with their entire family the remainder would be pushing for peaceful resolution.
What to do with all of the HIREES with civil service protection? Here are SIX(6) ways to use these HIREES with civil service protection: 1.) Let them DIG DITCHES, CATCH ROMING DOGS and CATS. 2.) Let them REBUILD the ROADS and RETAINING WALLS in PUBLIC LANDS. 3.) Let them ADDRESS and REPAIR the DESTRUCTION “law enforcers” do to PRIVATE PROPERTY while “arresting” WRONG DOERS! 4.) Let them clean “relief stations” along Public Roads! 5.) Let them collect RUBAGE and TRASH along the HIGHWAYS across America! 6.) Let them shovel snow and keep the areas clean of garbage for neighborhoods.
They should have offered desk jobs in the least desirable places and blackballed from any other firm if law enforcement. And of course never been issued a weapon again.
An argument can be made that these sorts of ATF killings are a concerted attempt to instill fear in a percentage of gun owners. If there is enough fear, perhaps some of our completely innocent but more wobbly gun owners will willingly give up their guns after receiving notice that “The ATF is Looking at You.” If the ATF can cull enough weapons from enough people, they can take the field with less resistance and fewer agents. I think it is all a misguided attempt to disarm average Americans. The ATF should be defunded and disbanded.
I agree with your comment. HOWEVER, I WOULD ADD: Hold every HIREE personally accountable for the intentional and malevolent actions against American Citizens. Before the ATF Bureaucracy is disbanded, deleted, disolved, EVERY RULE and REGULATION they DREAMED UP, INITIATED, USED MUST be stricken from EVERY LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY and NEVER be APPLIED at ANY TIME across America! Then the “administrators” and “decision makers” of the maligne agency be brought up on charges. Whether those charges are for INTENTIONAL HARM or KILLING of American Citizens! Whether those in charge BROKE CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS. And if found guilty, these LAW BREAKERS MUST BE… Read more »
They are trying to send everyone a clear message: “Be afraid, be very afraid.” But i’m not sure it will work.
It is far more likely Malinowski believed he was defending himself and his wife from armed home invaders. HE WAS.
Yes, no matter who they were, they were invading his home.
HLB
Are deadly raids such as this what PINO (President In Name Only) Biden meant when he said he was going to “crackdown” on “rogue gun dealers”? “Biden pledges new “crackdown” on gun dealers who violate existing law: “We’ll find you”” / Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Melissa Mahtani and Mike Hayes, CNN / June 23, 2021 “President Biden…announced a “major crackdown” on gun dealers…implement a “zero tolerance” policy to ensure weapons dealers “can’t sell death and mayhem on our streets.” “We are announcing a major crackdown to the stem of flow of guns used to commit violent crimes,”…”It is zero tolerance for… Read more »
were none of these para-military geared up home invaders wearing body worn cameras? that is to show that they announced themselves properly as law enforcement before breaking into a home and killing the resident. are we at war with our own government? curious minds want to know.
until all forms of immunity are revoked for any and all government agents we will continue to be living in a two-tiered system, them against us.
Don’t know about bodycams but 1 account I read indicated that they (ATF) covered at least 1 security camera on the premises during their approach, before they knocked-down the door.
That is prima facie evidence that they did not, as required, identify themselves as law enforcement – because the homeowner could have consulted his security camera, could have conversed through it with those seeking entry, and done so without gunfire. They all need to spend their life in prison contemplating that they might have been hanged instead for premeditated murder.
totally out of control agency. defund and disband and do not rehire any of these renegades.
We need to elect a congress that severely limits the power of the DOJ and other federal bureaucracies.
When I first heard this news story, and the background of the man killed by the ATF, my first thought was “The Democrat’s ATF murdered someone again.” Nothing added up in the story. We don’t have to ask WHY the Biden Administration murdered him, because it doesn’t matter. NO ONE holds any lawless Obama-Biden Democrat accountable for anything. (After all, I believe the family of Ashli Babbitt is still waiting for justice after her murder. This one will be no different.) I have one more thought, but out of respect for the host, it’s better to hold one’s tongue on… Read more »
Make your home intruder unfriendly. That includes access areas. Treat all home invasions the same. The problem will quickly abate if enough folks do that.
There are all sorts of diversive tactics you can employ around your home that do not directly engage the enemy. Pop-up targets, sound effects, fireworks spin wheels. They could be activated per the enemy’s position electronically. The end effect at 06:00 be a trip to the rest room to clean up and no dead people.
HLB
Punji stakes and claymores?
Second line behind @HLB’s suggestion. If they continue after shooting a dozen steel targets, then more forceful defensive measures come into play.
With any luck they’d get confused and we’d see several “friendly fire” incidents.
Who will ATF Shoot Next? Everyone they are allowed to.Tracking 5 years of shootings by federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and DEA.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/shootings-federal-agencies-fbi-dea-atf-us-marshals-5-years-rcna126357
Pretty good data. Notice the above-the-law attitude with Freedom of Information requests. Watching the Conress and Senate Hearings and questioning of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkis same thing…flat out refusal to provide subpoena requested documents and data. They the law enforcers with the full support and instruction by Biden are the murderers hiding their data on the killings of American Citizens.
WTF does congress continue to provide funds for these agencies? If an employee did something like that in private industry they’d be looking for another job. If subcontracted company refused to report required info to contracting company, contract and payment would cease.
Not like ending homeland security and all agencies thereunder would hurt us – with exception for BP.
This was calculated, cold-blooded murder. They deliberately broke into his home like criminals so he would engage so they could murder him. This is undeniable. The people who did this need to be executed for murder.
Who will ATF Shoot Next?I’d change your title to: Who will ATF Murder Next?
who next? my guess is all they can.
They are no longer Law Enforcement. Simple Thugs! Do not support these Criminals in any way.
INTENTIONAL —- IS the KEY WORD with this ATTACK by the DIRECTORS of the ATF BUREAUCY and the DEATH of AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.!!
INTIMADATION —- IS the REASON for the UNLAWFUL BUSTING DOWN THE FRONT DOOR of an AMERICAN CITIZEN.!
DEATH —- IS why the STORM TROOPERS of the ATF BUREAUCRACY ENCOURAGED this MALINGE STRATAGY of STAGING this ILLEGAL TYPE OF WARRANT UPON AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.!!
I have never understood why so many federal agencies go straight to their SWAT officers as a first option for every situation outside the merely normal. To break down anybody’s home door at 6AM just because you can is saying something about training and management that all needs to be changed not to mention t invites a gunfight. Fuck the ATF.
They do it because they like to do it.
HLB
Some people will not Go the sheep route…Im not an outlaw yet….but when pushing comes to shove…I’ll have my Josey Wales moment in the wagon…?
“…only heard loud banging immediately followed by the crash of the front door being forced open.”
THAT is when those on the outside DEI!
Trained USAF PHOENIX RAVEN, Trained Pa police officer, I’ll die after taking them out in a fire fight…want an Outlaw, you got it…not playing the f around with Bulltihs…..
No-knock warrants should be outlawed in all but the most extreme cases. This was not even close to that requirement and atf should be berated publicly from the public for this bullshit tactic. Shame on them. They KNOW how people respond to those tactics and too many end up in the death of LEOs and criminals. A few years ago two cops were killed executing a no-knock warrant against a faster on the draw drug dealer. What a waste. Makes me want to tell them to ESAD. You figure out what that acronym means.
Unacceptable. The feds have been doing this for some time now. They have obviously hired someone who is trying to make a statement. This was so wrong and so avoidable on so many levels. These are the same tactics the Nazi’s used against “enemies of the state”, seems history is repeating its self. Very sad state of affairs in the US.
Every employee of the federal government is an armed criminal threat to Americans. Ruthlessly enforce the Ashley Babbitt trespassing rule on any of them that step foot on private property.
Remember, they say it is 100% legal.
Well, if the ATF has a death wish for its agents the likelyhood of heavily armed homeowners to respond to future unannounced police raids with deadly and overwhelming force is increasingly likely. If this law abiding American citizen and gun collector was a class 3 collector the body count of agents would be very high. The Communist Biden Regime is no different than Stalin or Mao. So if ones freedom and liberties are still valued the people must push back before the concentration camps are built.
ATF Agents are the Democrats Hired Thugs, and will Kill You the 1st chance They get!
That is the typical MO for authoritarian regimes… they will give badges and guns to illegals covered in MS13 tattoos, to meth heads, to dope dealers and arrogant street corner thugs. And yet, all those human garbage will be cannon fodder.
Bu…..bu….but, those ATF SWATTERS have practiced s-o-o-o hard, and bought with your taxpayer money all those tacticool guns’n’gear. It’s a lot more fun to dress up and Rambo it…..and, and you get to execute little peeps. Isn’t that what they signed up for??? With the published redefinition of “in the business,” DittleShit’n’SloJoe’n’Cacklin’Clown declared a new war front on America again as repeatedly happening in Slo Joe’s administration. Malinowski was EXECUTED by ATF TERRORISTS as an example in preparation of the released redefinition of “in the business.” Things are gonna’ get serious real quick. Stay tuned….there will be more dogs….and more… Read more »
Every agent involved, including their supervisor, should be fired and charged with murder. All should end up in prison for life as an example to the rest of the reckless, unjustly indemnified federal bureaucrat police that act like tyrannical ruling class Gestapo, sheltered by the power of the government to do what they please. The ATF should be banned, permanently, from ever conducting a raid – at night or during the day, and armed with lethal force. All actions should be limited to notification by mail and subpoenas. They should not be empowered to act as a police force –… Read more »
The truth teller in the matter will be the victim’s social media and his publications. If he is writing on AmmoLand or similar sites or is calling out the Biden regime on political issues that answers your question for you. ATF, FBI, IRS et al are the contemporary equivalent of the Soviet GRU, the domestic intelligence services. The GRU folks used to roll up in a black sedan called a ‘Black Maria,’ jump out in trench coats and fedoras reeking of cheap unfiltered cigarette smoke and crash the door of a dissident. They did to so some of the most… Read more »
Where is loud mouth Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on this?
Who will ATF execute next?
Well, they’ve already done a wifey’n’sonny boy.
Then, there’s bulldozin’n’burnin’ culty guys’n’wifeys’n’kiddies.
And a current favorite, they’ve Little Rocked a bullet in head of airport administrator.
Help me out here, what are other popular ATF amusements????
Mommas don’t let your babies grow up to be Alphabet goons….
ATF, FBI ETC. ETC. have all lowered themselves to the KGB status.
The USA is now similar to NAZI Germany, since the stolen 2020 presidential election. Prove me wrong…
Ah….Kristallnacht on the horizon……
Do you know where your nearest local BATFEces Field Office is?
The day will arrive when the atf “knocks” on someone’s door only to find that someone is willing and able to enforce the laws against tyranny, treason, murder, assault, theft, threats, accusations, trespassing, etc. etc. etc. They can start with me.
Arm up and carry on
DING…DING…DING….a patriot as were our Founders.
Don’t wait to confirm your neighborhood fields of fire……
Provided they fake like machine guns are involved they’re probably clear to shoot anybody.
OK everybody! Listen up and listen tight! When we address the real cause of all this violence and do something effective about it, then we will have peace again. Go to CourtVictimdotkom, and read the papers posted there, especially The UNIVERSAL Get Out Of Jail For Free Card!, and then use it and get your friends and family to use it as well! What can the fake judges say when you demand to see your written guarantee of getting a fair trial, other than “Case dismissed!”? If you do not have a guarantee of getting a fair trial, then where… Read more »
Not saying the ATF was without fault here (read that again), but this guy was no saint – information I’ve received is that he’d be selling guns to Mexico….. let’s not jump to conclusions just yet, k?
Once an organization established themselves and develops a character, they have to move way to the other side to erase that past character. In data analysis it is called hysteresis. The ATFE is already history.
HLB
I’m calling horseshit on this one.
If the warrant affidavit was even horseshoes’n’genades close, anything in there was not an executionable offense, certainly not without due process. This was a Stazi style execution.