If conservatives are going to lecture everyone about waiting until all the facts come out when one of their police officers kill a Black man, perhaps they should take their own advice first. Lee Keltner’s body was still warm as Andy Ngo, Dinesh D’Souza and others started reporting how antifa killed him at a rally, and they played themselves doing it.
DENVER, CO – It did not take long before right wing media outlets began posting story with blaring, sensationalist headlines like the Gateway Pundit’s “BREAKING: Shooting at Denver Protests — ANTIFA TERRORIST SHOOTS PATRIOT PROTESTER DEAD!” and the Post Millennial’s “BREAKING: Alleged Antifa Militant Shoots and Kills Conservative at Patriot Rally in Denver”. Just as quickly the incendiary tweets from conservatives also began flowing some calling for attacks on antifascists in the wake of the shooting that took place last night during a rally in town that saw verbal and physical exchanges by right wingers and a group associated with Black Lives Matter and antifa.
Eventually however, Post Millennial changed its headline to “Conservative shot and killed at ‘Patriot Rally’ in Denver”. That was after the Denver Police tweeted out that the person who fired the fatal shot was a security guard not affiliated with antifa.
Update: Further investigation has determined the suspect is a private security guard with no affiliation with Antifa. Additional information will be released as it becomes available.
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) October 11, 2020
Matthew Doloff, a security guard protecting a television news reporter, is in custody after he allegedly shot and killed a person who was participating in what was billed a “Patriot Rally” outside the Denver Art Museum that was met by antifascists with a counterprotest called “BLM-Antifa Soup Drive”. A video of the shooting shows a man wearing a Black Guns Matter shirt in an argument and small scuffle with Denver Hatter Lee Keltner and others with his group. Keltner walks away and off camera and seconds later is seen falling to the ground after being shot. A photo in the Denver Post shows the incident taking place with Keltner wearing an anti-Black Lives Matter shirt spraying an undetermined substance at the Doloff. Keltner, who died at the hospital an hour later, had been identified by friends on Twitter.
Lee u always had a great sense of humor & always helped those you could. U were one of the good guys! This world is a sadder place without u my friend!
— laura sanders (@lascowgirl) October 11, 2020
Thanks 4 all the great memories & fun times! Praying 4 your family! U were an amazing friend, husband and dad! Love ya buddy! pic.twitter.com/CkwRBcx9Sw
Those working in the media have increasingly been the targets of the right for abuse both verbal and physical. Rally organizer John “Tig” Tiegen, a former military member who was working with Blackwater Security at the American Embassy in Benghazi, Libya when it was attacked, and earlier this year staged anti-shutdown rallies in Colorado and currently has been active against the recent Black Lives Matter protests in the state, rails against media as threats regularly on his Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Ironically, conservative propagandist and Post Millennial Editor Andy Ngo, who has become famous for touting the story of how last year he was attacked by antifa during a Portland rally while in the capacity of a journalist – itself touted as an example of the danger journalists face, was among the first to promote the Denver shooting that involved someone protecting a journalist as instead one committed by antifa per a tweet promoting the Post Millennial story written by Ian Miles Cheong, a promoter of the debunked Gamergate conspiracy and long regarded as an alt-right troll. Many took notice of his tweet which has since been removed, but Ngo now has a tweet of how antifa cheered on Keltner’s death. Ngo himself has been accused in the past of colluding with violent neo-Fascist groups in Portland, particularly after a Portland Mercury investigation last year revealed association with Patriot Prayer who even provided a video of Ngo appearing to listen to its members plan a violent clash with antifascists at a cidery. Ngo omitted this video from his coverage and made no effort to stop the plans from being carried out.
Great work as usual from fascist propagandists Tim Pool and Andy Ngo pic.twitter.com/LLzrGTVYdC
— Nathan Bernard (@nathanTbernard) October 11, 2020
Soon other propagandists like Tim Pool and Dinesh D’Souza posted the same take on their Twitter accounts, and despite the information from Denver Police that Doloff wasn’t associated with antifa or the protests, Cheong is still attempting to frame him as such, suggesting that he was a past activist in Occupy Denver.
Four hours after The Denver Police announced it was NOT Antifa, Dinesh D'Souza's tweet falsely blaming Antifa, and Joe Biden, for the Denver homicide is still up. Denver PD's tweet has 4.7K likes. D'Souza's has 29.6. This dangerous false propaganda must stop. @TwitterSafety pic.twitter.com/rkXbXQn0ep
— Eileen 🎃 BLM!🌊BIDEN/HARRIS🇺🇸 (@Percysperson) October 11, 2020
The shooter, Matt Doloff, was a big time Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Denver activist back in the day. They’re all BLM/Antifa now. pic.twitter.com/5AEORaXN9g
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 11, 2020
Summary of #DenverShooting:
— 💛#DudeGottaGo 🤷🏾♂️🐝 (@DMC0821) October 11, 2020
– Right-winger maces security guard and gets shot and killed
– Rightwing idiots on Twitter said it was ANTIFA
– Denver Police confirm guard had no connection to ANTIFA
– Rightwing idiots on Twitter still trying to link it to ANTIFA
The Denver shooting is the latest incident in protests across the country over the past five months where someone has died.
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