LITTLE ROCK, Ark — A group of Republican congressmen are asking for documents and seeking information from Arkansas State Police (ASP) in regards to an ongoing investigation where 53-year-old Bryan Malinowski was fatally shot during an early morning ATF raid.
In a letter addressed to Col. Mike Hager of the Arkansas State Police, a group of lawmakers compromised of legislators like Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. French Hill (R) requested information on the raid from ASP.
The group of lawmakers have requested from ASP an unredacted copy of the state agency's case file, along with any audio and video recordings that are related to the raid. Additionally, the group is asking transcripts, interviews, and "any other information [ASP believes] may inform the Committee's oversight of the ATF."
The deadly incident happened on March 19, when ATF agents conducted a search warrant on the home of Malinowski, who was accused of selling firearms without a license.
During the raid, Malinowski shot multiple times at agents, who authorities said were deemed to be home intruders by his perspective. The ATF agents then returned fire, striking him in the head — two days after the raid, Malinowski died due to his injuries.
Just over a month later on April 22, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote to ATF's director Steven Dettelbach specifically requesting information on the raid of Malinowski's home.
Lawmakers have continued to question the ethics behind the raid of Malinowski's home and challenged whether ATF followed proper protocol during their execution of the deadly March 19 incident.
These lawmakers have contended that ATF agents are required to wear active body cameras during raids per policies from the Department of Justice and Pres. Biden's Executive Order 14074 — agents did not wear body cameras during the Malinowski raid.
In a House Judiciary Committee hearing last month, ATF director Dettelbach responded to concerns of the body cameras and stated that less than one-third of the agency wears cameras as they're in a integration phase. Furthermore, he said that a lack of funding makes it difficult to equip all agents with proper equipment.
Another point of contention by lawmakers was whether or not ATF agents abided by the Justice Department's policy on "no knock entries," which the Justice Department has tried to restrict.
Rep. Jordan and the other lawmakers writing the letter to ASP said that questions still remain as to why ATF agents opted for the pre-dawn raid of Malinowski's home instead of choosing a time period in which he wasn't home.
The two sides stayed at odds leading up to a hearing on May 23, where Dettelbach deferred to Arkansas State Police and the ongoing investigation as a committee asked questions about the raid.
"After the incident we, along with the Little Rock Police, called for an independent investigation being done by the Arkansas State Police and the local prosecutor," Dettelbach said. "The reason I’m not going to talk about what’s going on in that investigation is to respect its independence and out of fairness."