A 60 year-old Antifa activist was shot dead by a far-right furry while blocking traffic at a Black Lives Matter rally in Portland, it was claimed.
June Knight was shot in the head at point-blank range on Saturday at Normandale Park when the suspect, named as Benjamin Jeffrey Smith, 43, walked up to her and a group of protesters and shot her in the head at close range.
Smith is a machinist who is said to have posted regularly on far-right forums, backed Kyle Rittenhouse and moaned about crime in Portland also shot four other women, it is claimed. He is also said to be a member of the furry community, who dress up in cartoonish animal outfits and attend gatherings together.
After Smith allegedly shot and killed Knight, he was himself shot by another marcher who was armed. That marcher was arrested, but has since been freed by police, and has not been identified.
Smith remains critically-ill in hospital. The group who were marching did so to commemorate Patrick Kimmons, a black man shot and killed by Portland Police in 2018, as well as Minneapolis shooting victim Amir Locke.
Knight’s wife Katherine Knapp said her late spouse would have reasoned with Smith and tried to de-escalate the situation.
‘She would have been the one talking to him, to deescalate things,’ she told the Oregonian. ‘She was really good at that and trying to be human with him and trying to understand.’
Knightly, who was also known as T-Rex, was a mother to a grown-up son who was a longtime LGBT rights activist. She had survived from two rounds of cancer, her wife Katherine Knapp told the Oregonian, and was using a cane to get around while she waited on a knee replacement. She was also partially retired and operated a vape store is southeast Portland.
June Knightly, 60, who was a racial justice activist with a long-standing history in Portland, was killed on Saturday at Normandale Park when Benjamin Jeffrey Smith, 43, walked up to her and a group of women and shot her in the head at close range
Smith, who has lived across the street from the park for 14 years, said he had become increasingly angry at the demonstrations throughout the neighborhood had often criticized the Black Lives Matter movement. He reportedly shot three others, in addition to Knightly, and suffered a gunshot wound after a protester shot back at him
At the protest, Knightly was ‘corking,’ meaning she was stopping traffic along the route to ensure try and ensure the safety of other protesters.
In a Facebook post from October 2020. Knightly self-proclaimed to be ‘born to cork’ and that she was ‘thankful for the opportunity to work with and learn from them.’
She first began shielding protesters from at a George Floyd protest. She and Knapp jumped in their car and ended up shielding protesters from motorists who were veering too close for comfort.
‘She started doing that naturally and then it became her mission,’ Knapp told the Oregonian. ‘[She wanted to] protect other protesters in any way she could.’
Knightly would go on to share her political opinions on her Facebook page, even making a picture of graffiti reading ‘F**k Rittenhouse’ as her cover photo and putting a filter on her profile picture reading: ‘I have a healthy distrust of authority. And I’m vaccinated.’
A makeshift memorial has popped up in the park near the spot she died, many signs and candles and flowers have been left to honor her
Many tributes flooded social media, honoring Knightly for her hard work and her kind soul.
‘She was a social justice advocate and an incredible human being who did nothing but try and love other humans. This is a tragedy!’ her friend Chrisssy OT wrote on Facebook. ‘I am just reeling today and so sad at her loss.’
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Executive Director of ACLU of Oregon Sandy Chung wrote: ‘I remember June protecting students marching to get an abusive police officer removed from their high school. Rest in power June. We honor & remember you.’
Knightly friend Mor Rioghan wrote on Twitter that her friend was ‘beautiful, loving and dedicated.’
‘I love you dearly and I’m so sorry for everything that happened. It was always a f**king honor to be at your side.’
An antifascist Twitter page wrote: ‘All the love and solidarity goes out to the family and friends of June Knightly (T-Rex), who was murdered while protecting her community, and also the other victims of this attack. May her memory be a blessing.’
Flowers and a makeshift memorial have popped up at the spot where Knightly died in the park. Signs reading: T-Rex forever. End white supremacy’ and ‘Rest in [love], T-Rex. Protector’ dotted the area.
However, those who knew Smith, who has lived across the street from the park for 14 years, said he had become increasingly angry at the demonstrations throughout the neighborhood and about the homeless people picking through his trash and living near the park. He was said to have often criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, and is also said to have posted on far-right internet forums using the handle Polybun.
He reportedly held up a gun to a homeless person who was found rooting through his trash, a neighbor recalled, and demanded the person leave.
‘He has been getting more and more radicalized as the years went by,’ his roommate Kristine Christenson told the Oregonian. ‘He went from ‘FU police’ to ‘Blue Lives Matter’ in the last year.’
Christenson said Smith made her ‘feel uncomfortable’ and described her roommate as ‘very fly off the handle.’ Despite her negative feelings toward her roommate, Christenson said she was surprised when Smith hadn’t returned home after the protest and even put a note on the door saying: ‘Ben still hasn’t come home, if you know anything, call me.’
‘I thought it was bluff and bluster,’ Christenson said.
Smith’s brother Aurthur Killion, who lives in Indiana, told the Oregonian that his brother had repeatedly expressed growing antipathy toward the protest in the city and claimed they had ‘threatened him and others personally in the past.’
Many wrote tribute posts for Knightly and called her ‘beautiful, loving, and dedicated’
‘He said he was ready to defend himself,’ Killion told the Oregonian. ‘He had no love for [left-wing activists], but he’s not some right-wing nut job. He’s a master machinist.’
He was also said to have been angered by the COVID-19 mandates, his roommate told the Oregonian, and he was known to collect guns. In addition, Smith was said to have made anti-Semitic comments on Reddit under the username Polybuns and praised Kyle Rittenhouse. He was also reportedly anti-fascist, neighbors said.
Smith is now under investigation and has not been charged with the shooting yet, but neighbors confirmed to the Oregonian that he was man with the gun. Hours after the shooting, police showed up to his apartment on the corner of Northeast 55th Avenue and Hassalo Street.
He is believed to have shot three other people, in addition to Knightly, and two of them remain in critical condition, with one being paralyzed.
Smith was also reportedly harmed when another protester fired back at him with a rifle, the Oregonian reported.
Smith was also reportedly looking to move out of Portland because it was ‘getting too liberal here.’
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