Bryan Malinowski, never charged with a crime, likely died without knowing the ATF was investigating him, or that the people who awakened him kicking down his door before sunrise were federal agents.
Seven weeks after the raid, ATF still has the firearms and electronic equipment agents removed from Mr. Malinowski's home as he lay dying in a hospital after agents shot him in the head.
By Jay C. Grelen, Arkansas Monitor
The widow of the slain executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport has filed his will with the Pulaski County Clerk of Court..
ATF agents mortally wounded Bryan Keith Malinowski on March 19 in his own home in the agency’s failed attempt to execute a surprise search warrant before sunrise.
Mr. Malinowski signed the will on January 8, 2010, and appointed his wife, Maria Malinowski, as executrix. They met and married in El Paso, Texas, 27 years ago when he was an employee of El Paso International Airport. He had been executive director of the Little Rock airport since 2019.
Mrs. Malinowski filed the will on April 10, 2024, three weeks after ten law enforcement vehicles drove into his west Little Rock neighborhood. Minutes later, agents stormed his front stoop, disabled the couple’s Ring doorbell video and audio recorder, and kicked in the front door of his home. Within minutes, Mr. Malinowski lay bleeding from the impact of at least one ATF bullet to his head.
Mr. Malinowski bought, traded, and sold guns at gun shows and in private sales in central Arkansas. ATF agents believed that the enthusiasm with which Mr. Malinowski pursued his avocation required him to have a Federal Firearms License. The agency opened its investigation in December 2023. Mr. Malinowski had not been advised or in any way alerted about the investigation. No one had suggested to him that he might need a license or that he might otherwise be in violation of gun laws.
Three undercover agents bought guns from Mr. Malinowski at a gun show, according to the affidavit for the search warrant. They also had placed on his car a traffic device that allowed agents to follow him.
None of his family or friends knew the ATF was investigating him, and he probably thought home invaders were breaking into his house when he awakened to the commotions just after 6 a.m. on March 19.
Bud Cummins, the former U.S. Attorney who is representing Mrs. Malinowski, said every person he has interviewed attests to Mr. Malinowski’s integrity. “Every friend or co-worker I’ve consulted to date has been 100 percent sure that if Bryan had any inkling he was violating any regulation, he would have immediately rectified the issue or quit the gun shows,” Mr. Cummins said. “He made good money as the executive director of the airport. It was his dream job from the time he was a young man. He loved his career. No one who knows him believed he would have knowingly jeopardized his career.”
Mr. Malinowski also bought, sold, and traded coins at gun shows.
The ATF confirmed that agents had shot Mr. Malinowski and that none of the agents involved in executing the warrant was wearing a body camera. The failure to wear cameras violates Department of Justice policy initiated by President Joe Biden and established in 2022. The ATF has released a redacted copy of the application for the search warrant.
The ATF has not said whether agents or Mr. Malinowski shot first. No one outside the ATF knows. The Arkansas State Police has concluded its investigation to determine whether the situation justified deadly force. The ATF has not released the result of that investigation.
Other than releasing those bits of information, the ATF has been silent on the raid and the homicide of Mr. Malinowski in the nearly two months since they shot him in the head and searched his house as Mr. Malinowski lay dying in intensive care at a central Arkansas hospital.
The ATF has not returned more than 100 of his firearms it confiscated, his computer and other electronic equipment, or Mrs. Malinowski’s computer.
The medical examiner released Mr. Malinowski’s body to the funeral home a week after the memorial service in his honor. Mrs. Malinowski received the crematory urn two weeks after that. (A month after his death, Arkansas Monitor originally and erroneously reported the medical examiner still had possession of his body.)
Mr. Malinowski was pronounced dead on March 21. Mr. Malinowski likely died without knowing who kicked down his door or that the ATF was investigating him.
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