What ATF did wrong during its fatal raid of Bryan Malinowski

Why ATF killed a 53-year-old airport executive who had never committed a crime.

ATF Agent Tyler Cowart shot Bryan Malinowski in the head during a botched raid on March 19, 2024. Malinowski, who was 53-year-old, died two days later.

by Lee Williams

In a perfect world, Bryan Malinowski would be alive today and substantially richer after suing the ATF for violating his Second, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

Unfortunately, the ATF has yet to be held accountable for shooting and killing Malinowski in his home just 16 months ago.

The ATF doesn’t want to talk about the killing.

Calls to ATF’s Little Rock Field Office, which conducted the raid, were not returned. The lone ATF agent who answered the phone said he wasn’t even sure who was the office’s Resident Agent in Charge, known as a RAC.

“I’ve only been here a year. I’m not sure,” the agent said.

He did not give his name, but his admission makes perfect sense.

ATF agents assigned to its Little Rock Field Office are 100% responsible for Malinowski’s death; from their flawed investigation, to their incompetent handling of a search warrant, but most importantly, for ATF Agent Tyler Cowart’s tragic use of deadly force on March 19, 2024.

Maer Malinowski, Byran’s widow, recently filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the ATF and every agent who was at her home. The massive document clearly shows a host of serious errors ATF agents committed, all of which contributed to her husband’s death.

The saddest part is that if ATF agents hadn’t committed just one or two of a long list of substantial errors, Bryan Malinowski would likely be alive today.

Here’s what they did wrong.

Malinowski did not violate any federal law

Malinowski thoroughly enjoyed collecting firearms. His father passed on his collection to him too. Malinowski liked buying, selling and trading firearms and other collectibles at local gun shows. He certainly didn’t need the money. Malinowski made more than $260,000 per year as the Executive Director of Little Rock’s airport, which was named for Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Federal law was also on his side. The Biden Administration did not close its so-called “gun show loophole” until a month after Malinowski was shot and killed by ATF.

Prior to its passage, the law was vague, “exempting people who occasionally sold guns as a hobby but not spelling out how many sales was too many," the lawsuit states.

“In the months preceding his death, even though ATF's new regulation intended to tighten the definition of a person ‘engaged in the business of selling firearms’ had not yet gone into effect, the ATF concluded Bryan Malinowski had crossed the ambiguously defined line and violated federal law by not holding an FFL,” the lawsuit states. “They decided his suspected infraction was serious enough to warrant a pre-dawn dynamic raid at his home while they knew he and his family would be sleeping.”

Charging Malinowski with violating the law at the time would certainly have led to a serious and lengthy legal argument.

ATF knew Malinowski wasn’t a threat

“Nothing in the Operations Plan indicated Bryan posed a danger to himself or others, or that he was not expected to comply with law enforcement if he knew they were at his door,” the lawsuit states.

This claim is buttressed by numerous agent admissions.

Special Agent Shannon Hicks told investigators Malinowski was “the last person I would have imagined that we would have been in an armed confrontation with.”

Special Agent Tyler Cowart, who shot and killed Malinowski, said “We thought this would be an easy search warrant and we'd be out of there pretty quick. And he would cooperate and everything, and it was supposed to be easy.”

Most telling, neither Malinowski nor Maer had any criminal history. They had never been arrested or broken any law.

Therefore, the methods that ATF chose to serve its search warrant were far more dangerous than what was actually needed.

ATF uses high-risk dynamic entry anyway

ATF agents chose to execute an early-morning high-risk dynamic entry, despite the fact they all admitted later they knew that Malinowski was not a threat.

This was the ATF’s most significant mistake, as it is the main reason why Malinowski was shot to death.

There is a long list of safer ways agents could have entered Malinowski’s home.

• Agents could have visited him at work. Malinowski’s office was inside the airport’s gun-free zone. They could have sat down in his office and shown him their search warrant and then taken him home.

• Agents could have stopped his vehicle, shown him their paperwork and taken him directly home.

• Agents could have knocked on his front door during daylight hours, shown him the warrant and ordered him to comply.

• Agents could have surrounded his home and called him on the phone, ordering him and his wife to come outside to meet them.

• Agents could have entered Malinowski’s residence when he wasn’t home. Uniformed Little Rock police officers, who were also present during the raid, could have met him outside when he arrived.

Instead, agents chose the most dangerous method of serving their search warrant. It should be noted they had no arrest warrant for either Malinowski or his wife, just a search warrant for their home.

Search warrants that need an early morning high-risk dynamic entry are designed to get inside quickly before the suspects can destroy evidence, most often drugs, which can be flushed in a toilet. They are meant to be used against suspects who are armed and likely hostile toward law enforcement. Malinowski had no way to rid himself of any firearms, and neither he nor his wife had ever been hostile toward law enforcement.

The biggest problem with these types of high-speed warrants is whether the homeowner knows the agents are law enforcement and not criminals, as Malinowski suspected.

ATF agents left the only item that identified themselves as law enforcement on the front steps outside Malinowski’s home.

ATF agents did not identify themselves

This is why Malinowski falsely believed that criminals had broken into his home:

“On the morning of March 19, 2024, the ATF agents and TFOs on the entry team were all similarly dressed. They wore dark blue long-sleeved shirts, and any law enforcement insignia or identification on the front and back of their shirts were mostly or completely covered by their bullet proof vests,” the complaint states. “Any markings on the front of agents' vests that could have identified them as law enforcement were obscured by equipment strung across the chest and by the agents' arms and rifles, which were held in front of their bodies.”

The agents’ Body Bunker, a ballistic shield that was marked “POLICE,” was left outside. ATF agents entered Malinowski’s home completely unidentifiable as law enforcement officers.

“The agents' clothing and equipment failed to present any identifying words, emblems, or markings on their shoulders or sides,” the complaint states. “Any identification, if it was not otherwise obscured, was not visible to any person standing to the left or right of the agents.”

Agents did not use other methods to properly identify themselves:

• Local police “chirped” one of their squad car’s sirens prior to the entry. However, even task force members who were outside the home testified they hadn’t heard the siren.

• Agents only knocked on Malinowski’s front door for 19 seconds, which was not enough time for him or his wife to awake, respond and answer the door.

• ATF Agent Adam Bass covered a video camera lens, part of a video doorbell system located outside the home’s front door, with tape prior to the raid. The Malinowskis could have seen the agents on their monitor, which was in their bedroom.

• ATF agents never called Malinowski’s phone to identify themselves prior to entry.

• Once inside, the agents never yelled that they were law enforcement.

Instead of yelling “POLICE” or “SEARCH WARRANT,” agents were flustered by the home’s two sets of front doors.

“I think we were unprepared for the French doors,” ATF Agent Matthew Sprinkles told investigators later.

The agents’ mistakes continued after Malinowski was shot

Bryan and Maer’s bedroom was located in the back of their 2,700-square foot home.

Hearing the pounding on his front doors, Malinowski armed himself with a handgun and went to investigate. He mistakenly believed the ATF agents were criminals.

“Bryan had no reason to believe that the people who breached his front door were part of a team of federal agents. He had no idea that federal agents had been following him, investigating his firearms sales, or looking into his paperwork and transactions much less that they had secured a warrant or would be executing it at his home more than an hour before sunrise,” the complaint states. “Believing they were intruders, Bryan fired his gun at the floor and hit one of the agents in the boot sole.”

Agent Cowart shot Malinowski in the head with his AR-15 just 48 seconds after agents approached the home’s front door.

Not a single agent rendered any aid to Malinowski, who could be heard struggling to breathe while lying on his side.

Malinowski died in the hospital two days later.

The ATF has taken no action against any of the agents involved in his killing.

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