It’s Friday and October just turned Sweet 16. I’ve told November he has to wait until she’s 31 to hold hands.

Lee Keltner was 49 when he was murdered last Saturday in Denver. The military veteran had just participated in a “Patriot Rally” that was counter-protested by what was described as a Black Lives Matter/antifa soup drive.

Police said the shooting followed a verbal and physical altercation between Keltner and 30-year-old Matthew Dolloff. Dolloff was working as a private security guard at the time for Denver’s 9News and was not participating in the protest.

What precipitated the altercation seemed to be Denver’s 9News reporter recording a confrontation involving Keltner with another man immediately prior to the shooting. (GRAPHIC LANGUAGE.)

It’s hard to know what happens from the video, but photographs show Keltner striking Dolloff on the right side of his head with an open left hand, knocking off Dolloff’s ball cap and sunglasses. (The reporter who recorded the video is the guy in blue on the right side of the image.)

Then, as Keltner backs away and fires pepper spray, Dolloff pulls a gun and fires once, striking Keltner, who collapses to the ground on his back. He was later pronounced dead at the Denver Health Medical Center.

Dolloff was not licensed to operate as a security guard or to carry a gun on the job within the city of Denver. He’s now facing second-degree murder charges, but his lawyer says he was acting in self-defense.

(I don’t know about that. Pepper spray is non-lethal, Keltner is backing away and it seems to me that the use of lethal force in response is not justified.)

It turns out that Dolloff has a long history of leftist activism, so even though he wasn’t participating in either of the competing rallies, he was certainly primed to react.

This is now the second time that a rally goer from the Right side of the political spectrum has been shot and killed in cold blood by an activist from the Left. Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a a Trump supporter, was gunned down on a Portland Street back in August, allegedly by Michael Reinoehl, who himself was shot dead by police as they tried to apprehend him a few days later.

The similarities between the two incidents are striking:

– Both victims backed Trump.
– Both shooters were Leftists.
– Both victims were shot at close range.
– Both shooters fired only one shot.
– Both victims used OC spray immediately before being shot.

Add to Keltner and Danielson the shooting deaths of two Antifa protestors and the wounding of a third in Kenosha, WI. All three were Leftists who attacked Kyle Rittenhouse, a young man who was trying to protect property during the violent street protests by Antifa. While he’s facing murder charges, he was clearly acting in self-defense.

I’ve said for a long time that we’re headed for Civil War 2.0. Incidents like these are forms of escalation towards such a conflict, even though they aren’t happening regularly.

We can now say we’re exchanging gunfire and killing each other. Current score: 2-2.

[Photo credits: Helen Richardson / Denver Post]