Sunday, October 11, 2020

One person arrested after man is shot dead at Denver rallies

Reuters, The Telegraph•October 11, 2020
A man holds up his hands as he is taken into custody after allegedly fatally shooting another man in Denver, Colorado - Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

A man was fatally shot in the United States on Saturday during protests by Left- and Right-wing groups in downtown Denver.

Police arrested a suspect they said was working as a private security guard.

An NBC News affiliate, KUSA-TV, said on its website that the man arrested for the shooting was a security guard hired by the television station to provide protection to its crew.


"It has been the practice of (KUSA) for a number of months to hire private security to accompany staff at protests," the station said.

The shooting took place in a courtyard at the Denver Art Museum during a so-called “Patriot Rally” that was met by counter-protests by groups who dubbed their rally a “BLM-Antifa Soup Drive”.
A man sprays mace, left, as another man fatally fires a gun - Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via AP
With mace still in the air a man falls to the ground as he is fatally shot by the man at right in Denver - Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Denver Police Chief of Investigations Joe Montoya would not confirm if the suspect worked for the station.

Neither the victim nor the suspected shooter has been identified by authorities.

Chief Montoya said police kept the two groups separated, and there were no other arrests during the competing rallies.

A photographer for the Denver Post captured an image of a man spraying a chemical agent at another man with a drawn hand gun.


One dead in shooting at dueling Denver protests


Jordan Freiman,
CBS News•October 10, 2020




One person was shot and killed Saturday during dueling protests in Denver, Colorado, police said. Two people, including one suspect, have been taken into custody.

The shooting occurred near the Denver Art Museum as two opposing groups were holding rallies in the area. Denver police said the suspect is "a private security guard with no affiliation with Antifa." Police said both people taken into custody are white males.

NBC affiliate 9news reports that the suspect being detained by police is a private security guard hired by the station. The station also reports the second person taken into custody was a 9news producer who has since been released.

Police said they recovered a mace canister from the scene. Video of the shooting posted to social media appears to show a cloud of mace being sprayed right before the shot is fired.

The man who was killed appears to have been part of what was billed as a "Patriot Muster." The event page for that rally stated "BLM, Antifa, and related Marxist associations are assaulting everything we love and cherish about this country!"

In response, left-wing groups planned a counter rally which they called a "BLM-ANTIFA Soup Drive."

Due to ongoing unrest throughout the country and violence that erupted at earlier events in the city, Denver business owners were warned of the possibility of violence prior to Saturday's protests.


One Dead as Gunfire Erupts Amid Dueling Rallies in Denver


Allison Quinn, Carol McKinley, The Daily Beast•October 10, 2020

Denver Police

A man was shot dead as rival rallies played out between far-right groups and Black Lives Matter protesters in Denver on Saturday.

Despite tensions running high between the dueling protests, however, police say the suspected shooter was not a protester, but a “private security guard.” The victim, who has not been identified, was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to his injuries, Denver police confirmed.

The shooting is being investigated as a homicide. Two male suspects were taken into custody right after the incident, but only one of them remained in custody on suspicion of involvement as of Saturday evening, Joe Montoya, the Denver police division chief of investigations, told local media. Amid growing speculation about whether the shooting had a political motive, the police department issued a statement late Saturday noting the suspect had “no affiliation with Antifa.”

Local news station KUSA Channel 9 confirmed that the suspect in police custody was a private security guard hired by the station to accompany Channel 9 staff to the protest.

Police said they had yet to determine if the victim was participating in the nearby protests. The shooting happened in the courtyard of the Denver Art Museum, not far from where hundreds of activists from the far-right and Black Lives Matter had been facing off on Saturday afternoon.

Denver Police public information officer Ana Munoz told The Daily Beast the shooting stemmed from an argument that broke out at 3:40 p.m. in the Denver Art Museum. “The argument turned violent,” Munoz said. “The victim was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.”

Update: This shooting is now being investigated as a Homicide. Updates will be posted as information comes available.
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) October 10, 2020

A video said to be taken from the scene at the time of the shooting captured the gunfire and the shooting in the distance. After a shot rang out, police officers could be seen rushing to the area as bystanders screamed in horror and yelled, “He’s got a gun!” A man could be seen lying on the ground as authorities handcuffed two other people nearby.



Potato video, but here is the person shooting the gun at the #Denverprotests, and the scene after (Denver, CO) pic.twitter.com/N1FksCXWiW

— Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) October 10, 2020

The incident capped off a day of tensions in the city, after one set of protesters hosted a “BLM-Antifa Soup Drive” and right-wing groups gathered nearby in response for what was dubbed a “Patriot Muster.” Far-right demonstrators appeared ready to do battle at the event, wielding shields and wearing helmets, but only isolated clashes and screaming matches were reported between the two sides until the gunfire erupted.

A day before the event, the organizer of the Patriot Rally, John Tiegen did an interview with the Steffan Tubbs Show where he was quoted saying of the rally: “I’m not going in there to do violence, but I’m going to be prepared to do violence.”

Tiegen had organized the event after the left-wing Soup Drive event was already planned by groups including the Denver Communists, HOES (Help on Every Street), the Denver Boulder Socialist Revolution, the Anon Resistance Movement, the Front Range Mutual Aid Network, and WITCH, (or Women's International Troublemaker Conspiracy from Hell).

Tiegen had also posted an Instagram video the day of the event, saying: “They call us the aggressors, the oppressors, We need to do more friggin Patriotic Musters and shoving it in their face. ….They don’t want nothing but oppression, Communism, Socialism, and all that does is take away your individuality…We can’t be afraid. We can’t be scared. We got to stand up. We gotta fight back. We gotta push back.”

Ahead of the rallies, the Denver Police Department said it would respect “the right to peacefully assemble” but urged those participating to “do so in a lawful manner.”

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