Conservative demonstrators united in Denver, Colorado, Saturday, for what they referred to as a “Patriot Rally”. Opposing activists associated with the Denver Communists Facebook page held a “BLM-Antifa Soup Drive” to confront the conservative attendees.
The organization said in a post announcing the counter-protest, “The Proud Boys are backward losers who can’t organize! Join us to drown out their hate with 🌈 LOVE ❤️ for Black Lives ✊🏾✊🏽✊🏿, with anti-fascist chants 🗣🗣🗣, and with soup 🥫🥫🥫 for our family!”
The Denver Post has stated that the fatal shooting victim was a member of the Patriot Rally who deployed something in the realm of pepper spray toward another individual, who then shot the conservative protestor.
Local television news station, 9News, claimed the shooter was a security guard they had hired for the protection of one of their employees.
The guard’s acts are currently being investigated by Denver Police as a homicide.
Shortly after the shooting, some conservatives propagated unfounded allegations online that a left-wing counter-protestor was responsible for the fatal encounter.
Investigations Chief, Joe Montoya, said of the unnamed parties involved, “We’re hopeful that that information will help kind of calm the waters a little bit.”
He continued, “We don’t want any erroneous information going out, any speculation, because that’s really what hurts us.”
Patriot Rally Organizer, John Tiegen, told a local news station before the event that he was “not calling for violence”, yet asserted that if he were to suffer any perceived attack, he would rebut the efforts with self-defense measures, “ten times fold”.
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