Prominent conservative commentator Charlie Kirk is still blaming “antifa” for a shooting at a protest in Colorado, even after police debunked the claim.
The protest, which took place on Saturday outside of the Denver Art Museum, saw that right-wing protesters holding a “Patriot Rally” were met by counter-protesters running a “BLM-Antifa Soup Drive.”
After an altercation led to a conservative attendee being shot, the Denver Post incorrectly reported that the gunman was associated with left-wing protesters.
The claim quickly spread online and was shared by numerous popular Twitter users, including Andy Ngo and Tim Pool.
But the Denver Police Department revealed not long after that the shooter was actually a private security guard for a local television station and was in no way associated with counter-protesters.
“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,” it wrote.
After the Denver Post retracted the claim, most of the large right-wing accounts did as well. But not Kirk, who continued to make references to antifa long after the allegation had been debunked.
In a transparent effort to bolster the reelection efforts of President Donald Trump, Kirk once again took aim at former Vice President Joe Biden over the incident.
“How many people does ANTIFA have to murder in cold blood before Democrats even acknowledge they exist & they’re a problem,” Kirk tweeted. “This isn’t ‘just an idea’ @JoeBiden – it’s terrorism.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Kirk to ask whether he intended to issue a retraction but did not receive a reply.
The man who was shot died an hour later while in the hospital. Neither the victim or the shooter have been identified at this time.
The incident is just one of a growing number of violent altercations to take place this year at protests across the country.