“With a heavy heart, we announce the passing of our executive director Bryan Malinowski,” the spokesperson for the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport said in a statement, adding that Malinowski was a 16-year employee and the airport experienced significant growth and success under his leadership.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to Bryan’s wife, Maer, loved ones and friends,” the statement said.
Malinowski’s wife declined a request for an interview when reached by phone Thursday before news of his death was announced.
Malinowski, 53, was wounded when agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tried to serve a search warrant at his home just after 6 a.m. Tuesday. The ATF said one of its agents sustained a “non-life-threatening” wound in the shootout. Malinowski was shot more than once, Arkansas State Police have said.
Malinowski’s brother, Matthew Malinowski, 55, previously told NBC News that his sibling was shot in the head and was not likely to survive.
Earlier Thursday, residents here said they were still struggling to make sense of the bloodshed, recalling Malinowski as a near-perfect neighbor.
“He’s been nothing but an outstanding neighbor — helpful and very giving,” said Sarah Aguirre, 30.
Aguirre spoke Thursday from her front door on a cul-de-sac on Durance Court in the upper-middle-class neighborhood.
Shirley Wofford, 75, said that Malinowski was known to do handiwork around the neighborhood and that his wife often chatted with people as she walked the couple’s two pugs every day.
The couple would also bake cookies and share them with neighbors, Wofford said.
She fondly recalled Thursday that after her husband died in 2014, Malinowski would come over unexpectedly and change the lightbulbs outside her home.
“We are all hurting badly about what happened,” Wofford said. “We don’t know what in the world happened. We are all dumbfounded.”
She said that the Malinowskis have had her over for Thanksgiving dinner and that neighbors would often gather at their home during the holidays.
Susan Lynn Duston, who lives next door, said the Malinowskis became neighbors 15 years ago and since then their families have shared dinners and one year watched the Super Bowl together. “He’s a good friend,” she said Wednesday, describing Malinowski as a “professional.”
Wofford, who has known Malinowski for more than a decade, said she had never seen anything at his home to suggest he was involved in anything illegal. She also said she never saw anyone strange there.
“He was not a hardened criminal — nothing that we know about,” she said. “I just don’t think whatever happened to him should have cost him his injuries. It shouldn’t have happened at all.”
The authorities have not said why they were serving a search warrant at the Malinowski home. A spokesperson for the ATF said Wednesday the agency could not release the warrant, saying it is part of an active investigation.
Aguirre said she’s curious to learn why federal authorities were at Malinowski’s home. She said she saw law enforcement packing up crates and a garbage bin of guns into a truck Tuesday morning. Wofford said she saw about 15 to 20 ATF personnel in marked windbreakers at the Malinowski home.
Aguirre said she’s “tore up” over the shooting.
“He was a good person. Everything that happened, I’m still in shock,” she said. “I don’t know why it went to that level.”
Wofford said she was overcome with sadness.
“I need to get out of this house and off of this street,” she said. “You open your shutters and you look over there and you know something happened to them. He was not a bad person.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
