Murder of Brandy Knightly

The following is preliminary information; I will edit as the known facts change.

Brandy KnightlyA protest peacekeeper named Brandy Knightly was murdered in Portland on Saturday, February 19 by a fascist extremist named Benjamin (Ben) Smith. Brandy Knightly was assisting with a march in solidarity with Amir Locke, an innocent man who was tragically murdered by police serving a no-knock warrant in pursuit of a different person. Knightly was 60 years old and was a fixture of Portland’s protest community. According to Portland DSA, “Her favorite color was green. She was a mother. She protected and nurtured her community.” Kathleen Saadat described Knightly to OregonLive, saying, “She was a warm, giving and kind person who spent time trying to think of things she could do to make the world better and to make herself better in the world.” Knightly was fulfilling her role as a protest peacekeeper at the time Smith murdered her; she was unarmed, wearing a safety vest, and attempting to de-escalate him. Knightly required the use of a cane for extended periods of walking and was using one at the time.

Like most conservatives, Ben Smith had often expressed hatred of “commies” and “antifa” and was generally angry about mask mandates, protests, and the existence of liberals. A fan of genocide, he often expressed that all such people, including anyone participating in BLM activities, should be killed, and expressed that he would love to shoot them himself. Smith was also a furry, but had been banned from FurryCon for his fascist rhetoric. Smith was noted to be anti-Semitic, misogynistic, and racist and was radicalized by Donald Trump and Trump’s followers according to his roommate. Not willing to limit the killing to his enemies, he also expressed that anyone “mouthing off” or disrespecting someone’s property should be killed. His brother claims that Smith can’t possibly be a right-wing nutjob because he is a master machinist.

We know that Andy Ngo is responsible for contributing to Ben Smith’s delusional and violent beliefs, and that Ngo is now spreading misinformation about the murder. His misinformation appears to all fit the narrative that Smith was defending his property (not true) and was attacked by violent extremists (not true). In fact, Smith was not protecting his property; he exited his home and walked some distance toward his victims before yelling insults at them and shooting them. His home was never threatened or trespassed upon, he just hated that his enemies were anywhere near it; the protest had not even begun when he attacked the group of peacekeepers. In fact, Brandy Knightly was not armed and at this time there’s no evidence that any of Smith’s other victims were armed. There’s no evidence to suggest that anyone present to participate in the protest was openly carrying a weapon of any kind (though, certainly the person who ended Smith’s rampage was armed). In response to Andy Ngo’s lies, his followers are calling for more people to be murdered.

The mass shooting occurred at around 8pm on February 19 near the corner of Northeast 55th Avenue and Northeast Hassalo Street. It appears that the killer was agitated because there was a protest near his home; this may have been a longstanding source of agitation for him. He approached a group of protest peacekeepers wearing safety vests, called them “violent terrorists” and “terrorist cunts”, and said that if they came past his house (which indicates that they had not even come past his house), he would shoot them. Then, he fired into the group hitting 5 people, some multiple times. Knightly was struck in the head. In response, someone attending the protest responded appropriately and fired back at the killer, severely wounding him. The entire exchange lasted less than two minutes. The killer and two others are still in critical condition; one of Smith’s victims is paralyzed.

The protesters did not cooperate with the police and the police say that “critical evidence” was removed from the scene; I can only guess that they may have wanted to protect the identity of the person who ended the rampage. You may recall how Portland police executed Michael Forest Reinoehl in 2020. Reinoehl shot a Trump supporter who threatened a protest with a gun; generally, it is legal to shoot someone who is brandishing a gun (i.e., because you fear for your life or the life of another person), but the rules are different for leftists, apparently. Reinoehl admitted to the shooting saying, “I had no choice.” When police went to arrest him, they all mysteriously failed to use their body cams and since Reinoehl is dead, we have only their version of what happened during the arrest.

On February 22, after I wrote the above text, we learned that the person who shot Ben Smith (ending his rampage) had been released by the police. That person stayed on the scene after the event and cooperated with police. The was a rumor that the defending shooter had basically left the scene and then turned themself in later; this is not true, but sparked lively debate about the wisdom of doing that and the ethics of advising others to turn themselves in. Strictly speaking, if you justifiably shoot someone, you are obliged to stay at the scene and cooperate with the police, just like if you are involved in a vehicle collision, you’re supposed to stay at the scene. The issue is more complicated for the left (or anyone the police prejudicially consider to be an enemy) and I would advise anyone to consider your options carefully, but generally, making the scene safe for everyone (including the police) and then cooperating with them is going to be the best bet from a purely practical perspective.