Lee Keltner Denver Patriot protester identified as demonstrator shot dead by 9News private security guard, Matthew Robert Dolloff.
The man shot dead by a hired security guard on behalf of NBC affiliate 9News during a Denver protest on Saturday has been identified as a local hatter and military veteran.
Lee Keltner was shot shortly after 3:30 p.m. at a ‘Patriot Rally’ outside the Denver Art Museum and later pronounced dead at a local hospital, The Sun reported Sunday.
‘My son Lee was at the patriot rally today in Denver,’ Keltner’s mother, Carole, posted on the Northeast Arkansas Tea Party Facebook group. ‘He was murdered because he backed the police.’
The Denver Police have said the shooter was a ‘private security guard with no affiliation with Antifa’ who a local TV station 9News confirmed it had hired to look over its reporters.
Prior to Denver Police Department publicly naming the identity of the gunman late Sunday morning, 4chan users identified the shooter as 30 year old Denver man, Matthew Robert Dolloff mere hours after Saturday’s shooting. Increasingly vexing and disturbing are artifacts from the man’s social media profile which allude to him potentially being an Antifa perpetrator and or left leaning activist.
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‘Colorado got too expensive and liberal’
‘His 24 year old son was with him,’ the mother’s Facebook continued. ‘I moved to Arkansas because Colorado got too expensive and liberal. The left has gotten out of hand.’
According to a 2015 Denver Post profile of Keltner, he had been a hatter at Crossfire Hats in Denver’s historic district for over 20 years. He said he opened up the shop in the Livestock Exchange Building in 1994, and only missed one stock show when he was in the military.
‘I’m a country boy that feels at home here,’ he said on a YouTube video at the time (see below). ‘It’s just very laid back, very easy going surrounded by a whole lot of craziness.’
Dramatic video captured the moment Keltner was shot in a clash of protesters in the courtyard of the museum.
Victim came to support militant nationalist group counter protests against Antifa
The footage shows Keltner arguing with another man before spraying the alleged gunman with what appears to mace. The man fires a shot and Keltner is seen falling to the ground.
It is thought that Keltner had come to support the militant nationalist group, the Patriot Muster militia in counter protest to Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters who had gathered downtown that Saturday.
Of note, the gunman had been hired out as a security guard from the Pinkerton detective agency, 9News-TV confirmed.
Police docket files ciphered by 4chan indicate Matthew Dolloff since charged with first degree murder.