PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The man found guilty of killing an anti-fascist activist in a hit-and-run in 2019 has been sentenced to 17 years in prison, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Christopher Edward Knipe pled guilty to one count of first-degree manslaughter after hitting 23-year-old Sean Kealiher with an SUV outside the Democratic Party Headquarters in Northeast Portland.
It wasn’t until Knipe’s confession on June 27, 2022 that police could identify him as the driver, due to three other people in the suspect vehicle. He was indicted on Aug. 15, 2022.
Kealiher died at a hospital after his friends rushed him there after the crash. Police say Knipe fled after his vehicle took out a tree and crashed.
Sean D. Kealiher in an undated photo his family provided police with. October 12, 2019. (Courtesy Portland Police Bureau) 
Graffiti memorializing Sean Kealiher has appeared on the wall of the Democratic Party of Oregon offices where he was hit and killed. October 14, 2019 (KOIN) 
Graffiti memorializing Sean Kealiher has appeared on the wall of the Democratic Party of Oregon offices where he was hit and killed. October 14, 2019 (KOIN) 
Graffiti outside the Democratic Party of Oregon offices in northeast Portland memorializes Sean Kealiher, a local activist who was killed in a hit and run. October 14, 2019 (KOIN)
Police initially responded to a report of gunshots and found bullet holes in the SUV just after midnight Saturday. The vehicle was smashed into the Oregon Democratic Party building.
Reports indicate Kealiher, an activist and anarchist who went by the name Armenio, may have just left the nearby bar Cider Riot. That’s the spot where a brawl broke out between Antifa and Patriot Prayer/Proud Boys members.
Knipe is in custody in Multnomah County and will be transported to the Oregon Department of Corrections to serve his sentence.
