Denver rally shooting suspect Matthew Dolloff did ‘everything he was trained to do’ in deadly clash with Navy vet
DENVER rally shooting suspect Matthew Dolloff did "everything he was train to do" in the deadly clash with a Navy veteran, according to his lawyer.
, 30, is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder following near Civic Center Park.
The incident happened as following the demonstrations - a "Patriot Muster" and a "-Antifa Soup Drive" counterprotest.
Authorities have not identified the man who was killed, but a man told The Denver Post it was his father, , a 49-year-old veteran who operated a hat-making business in the area.
Dolloff was reportedly working for security company Pinkerton and contracted by 9News to protect their TV crew.
The Denver City Attorney's Office told CBS4 on Monday: "Licensed security guard employers that hire unlicensed security guards could face disciplinary actions against their licenses ranging from a fine, to suspension, to revocation.
"Businesses could also face for permitting or directing an unlicensed person to perform security services.
"Regarding Matthew Dolloff, there could be civil or criminal actions taken, or both, against Mr Dolloff, Pinkerton, 9News, and/or any other entity that hired and deployed Dolloff in an unlicensed security guard capacity."
Doug Richards, who said he is representing Dolloff's family, said the man who was shot reached into his shirt which made Dolloff fear for his safety, leading him to shoot.
He said from The Denver Post, which first reported his comments, show that Dolloff put his body between the man and the reporter from KUSA-TV he was working to protect.
"He was doing what he was supposed to be doing there," Richards said.
Two guns and a Mace can were found at the crime scene but no further details, including who the guns belonged to, were released because officials do not want to harm the ongoing investigation, department spokesperson Jay Casillas said.
The document laying out the reasons for Dolloff’s arrest remains sealed.
Denver officials say as a security guard in the city and were investigating how he was allowed to work anyway.
Who is Denver shooting suspect Matthew Dolloff?
Mathew Dolloff is the main suspect in the killing of Lee Keltner at the “Patriot Muster" rally on Saturday, October 10 in Denver.
Social media users speculated online that he is an "extreme left-wing activist," but The Denver Police Department said on Saturday that an investigation determined he had "no affiliation" with the leftist political movement.
Dolloff, 30, was hired as an armed guard for TV station 9NEWS at the time of the shooting.
The station had reportedly hired him through Pinkerton to protect their staff at the protest, a practice they said they've been doing "for a number of months".
However, the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses has confirmed there was "no record for an active licensed security guard now or ever" for Dolloff, CBS 4 reported.
Although it's not yet clear exactly what Dolloff did professionally, Facebook pictures belonging to an account of the same name reference selling farm goods in the Denver area, and snaps on those accounts show a man with dogs and sheep.
Under rules adopted by Denver in 2018, both security companies and the guards they employ must have city licenses.
Guards must undergo 16 hours of training and an background check to get a license and complete eight hours more training to renew their license each year, said Eric Escudero, a spokesman for the city’s Excise and Licenses Department.
Guards that carry firearms must also be screened by police, he said.
Companies that employ guards without licenses can have their licenses suspended or revoked and face fines.
Individual guards who do not have licenses can be punished with a fine and up to one year in jail.
Dolloff did have a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Colorado issued by his local sheriff’s office but it was suspended Monday because of the allegations against him.
Elbert County Sheriff Tim Norton said he will decide whether Dolloff will get the five-year permit back based on what happens in the criminal case.
According to state business records, Dolloff was listed as the registered agent for a farm that raises animals including turkeys, sheep and goats in Elizabeth, a town outside the Denver metro area.
No one answered the phone at the farm on Monday and a message left for another person listed in business filings was not returned.
KUSA-TV said Sunday that it has been hiring private security to accompany its staff at protests for a number of months.
It said Dolloff had been hired through the Pinkerton security company.
However, in a statement, Pinkerton said Dolloff was a contract agent, not a Pinkerton employee. The company did not reveal the name of the contract company Dolloff worked for.
"Pinkerton is fully cooperating with law enforcement authorities in their investigation of this matter," it said.
Network news crews have taken security for years, especially overseas, said Dan Shelley, executive director of the Radio-Television-Digital News Association.
In recent years, it’s become more common for television news crews amid increasingly corrosive political and ideological rhetoric, he said.
"It's very unfortunate because journalists, while they’re not around to make friends, they are around to serve their communities by seeking and reporting the truth," he said.
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In some markets, like the San Francisco Bay Area, it’s become fairly routine, said Al Tompkins with the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
A private security guard there was shot and wounded when a crew on assignment was robbed of their camera outside a library in February 2019.
Typically, security guards are unobtrusive and step in simply to defuse situations, he said.
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"The fact of the matter is, the intensity of doing the job of journalism keeps you from being as aware as you need to be in order to stay safe," Tompkins said.
"They're going in there with one main goal, and that is to avoid problems."