LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KARK) — The brother of the Little Rock, Arkansas, airport executive shot by federal agents serving a search warrant says he is fearful his brother may not survive and questions the timing of the incident.
Bryan Malinowski, 53, was injured Tuesday morning in a shootout with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at his west Little Rock home.
His older brother, Matthew Malinowski, told NBC News reporter Deon Hampton that the family was not sure if the Clinton National Airport executive director was “going to make it in the next 24 hours” while confirming his brother was shot in the head during the exchange of gunfire.
ATF officials said agents were serving a search warrant at the home in the 100 block of Durance Court just after 6 a.m. Tuesday. The agents said Bryan Malinowski fired at them from inside the home, at which point they returned fire. One ATF agent suffered an injury that was not life-threatening and was hospitalized.
Matthew Malinowski questioned why agents came to his brother’s home so early in the morning and did not approach him at the airport, claiming instead that the agents “broke down his door,” leaving his brother no choice but to “defend himself.”
“There’s something fishy here. The ATF went after him in the worst possible way,” he told NBC News. “There’s no reason why they couldn’t have arrested him at work at the airport.”
The older Malinowski added that he thought his brother was well-liked at his work and had been successful with improving the status of the airport, saying he, “was turning around Little Rock airport.”
Malinowski also said it seemed odd that his brother could be entangled with the law, noting that he made more than $250,000 a year in salary, lived in a nice suburb with collections of guns and coins and was well connected in the Natural State.
“When someone makes that much money, there’s no incentive to do anything wrong,” the brother said, adding that Bryan Malinowski had just been in Washington, D.C., meeting with Arkansas senators about business for the airport. “He has so much to lose.”
As far as Bryan Malinowski’s prognosis, his brother said doctors are keeping him on life support and not performing surgery because they don’t think he would survive.
“We don’t know how much longer he has to live,” said Matthew Malinowski, who flew into Little Rock from Pennsylvania on Tuesday night.
With the family still wondering how this all happened and federal investigators still not releasing the details of the search warrant, Matthew Malinowski feels the case against his brother doesn’t add up.
“Something stinks to high hell.”
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