Denver police said Matthew Dolloff was detained in connection with the murder of a man in Denver on Saturday.
Doloff, 30, a private security guard employed by the news agency 9News, shot and killed a protester at the far-right Patriotic Rally in downtown Denver on Saturday, October 10. He is currently in custody.
The incident took place during two protests: a «Patriotic Rally» in support of the police and a counter-protest «BLM-Antifa Soup Drive».
As the events drew to a close, a «verbal skirmish» broke out between the shooting suspect and the alleged victim near the Denver Art Museum, according to Denver Police Investigation Officer Joe Montoya.
The quarrel ended in a firefight, during which one person died. Two pistols were found at the scene, but police have not yet confirmed whose weapon they were.
The victim's identity has not yet been revealed by the police. However, a woman who claims to be his mother identified the deceased as Lee Keltner on Facebook.
Photos taken by a witness to the shooting on Saturday show that the men got into a fight.
The deceased began spraying an aerosol on Dolloff when he pulled out and pointed a pistol at him. After that, the guard fired. A few seconds later he was arrested by the police.
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
Ultra-right bloggers claimed that the protester was killed by a supporter of the Antifa movement. In response, the Denver police tweeted that «the investigation revealed that the gunman was a private security guard not affiliated with Antifa.»
Local broadcaster KUSA has confirmed that Dolloff was hired by the news agency through security company Pinkerton to protect their employees during the protest. From the photographs of the incident, he did not look the way a security guard usually looks.
Dolloff has frequently announced his commitment to progressive politics online. But the authorities stressed that the guard was not associated with Antifa.
According to Facebook, Dolloff and his wife run the Lavender Moon Farm, a free-range turkey farm in Elizabeth, Colorado.
“We raise not only turkeys, but Shetland sheep, goats, chickens, bees and Pyrenees mountain dogs,” says an archived version of the farm's remote website.
According to his personal Facebook page, Dolloff studies at the University of Denver, calls himself an atheist and a democrat.
