detained and released without charges after being questioned by police
Provocateur, snitch and/or undercover cop.
this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2025
122 points (91.2% liked)
News
30641 readers
3512 users here now
Welcome to the News community!
Rules:
1. Be civil
Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.
2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.
Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.
3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.
Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.
4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.
Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.
5. Only recent news is allowed.
Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.
6. All posts must be news articles.
No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
7. No duplicate posts.
If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.
8. Misinformation is prohibited.
Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.
9. No link shorteners.
The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.
10. Don't copy entire article in your post body
For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Self labeled "peacekeeper" so yeah just a cop
not a federally-subsidized missile?
Let's point out the guy they shot at was all in black, went behind a wall and started assembling his rifle, then when confronted by the peacekeepers HIRED BY THE PROTEST ORGANIZERS he ran away into the crowd while lifting his rifle into firing position.
he ran away into the crowd while lifting his rifle into firing position.
So, I haven't followed or heard of this story before, and I cannot say what happened before and after the video in the article, and what info is available outside of this article - but at the moment of the first shot, this clearly was not the case. The video shows him in all black and walking, not running, with his rifle in front, but not raised. The shooter already is in an aiming position at this point, there is nothing audible and no one around the happenings acts like there were instructions or warnings being shouted.
I will give them, that it may have been still a hard to decipher situation, and I cannot say anything about the other claims (preparing the rifle behind a wall) - but at least the whole "running at them with rifle in firing position" was either happening at another time, with them not shooting, or not happening in the way described at all.
So, yeah, their story does not check out as told, could be a whole slew of reasons, but this does not feel like an easy "it was his own fault" situation.
EDIT: Note that the second video in the article (the dashcam one) won't load for me, so I can't comment on that one
He was a known and active anti fascist protester, open carry is legal in Utah*, and this guy was specifically known for open carrying and dressing like this at demonstrations. AND the "peacekeepers" poor aiming killed someone completely unrelated to any of this. Additionally, the 50501 peacekeepers at this protest were explicitly told not to carry any firearms.
The whole "he shouldn't have been carrying", "he was being suspicious" and general victim blaming is the same garbage rationale the cops use when they kill someone for no good reason. Some dipshit in a hi-vis vest wanted to be a hero and now an innocent person is dead. Fuck that guy
source the section about the shooting starts around the 13:30 mark
HIRED BY THE PROTEST ORGANIZERS
What's with people saying "hired" now?
It was an unpaid volunteer, and as far as I know we have zero information on how much vetting was involved.
Like, where is this shit coming from?
Did you read it somewhere in a comment and are just repeating like it's true?
Do you not understand why there's so much criticism of these "peacekeepers"?
Did you ever read an article instead of just comments?
A growing presence at demonstrations in recent years, many protesters hold disdain for protest marshals, pejoratively called “peace police.” To many, the use of marshals hampers spontaneous and autonomous tactics, and puts those who are willing to take more risky actions during protests in danger. In some instances, these “peace police” have gone so far as to isolate and turn in to police protesters who take on more confrontational roles, leading to arrests and police violence.
Yeah... that's questionable behavior. I don't really feel like the peacekeepers really meant to kill the other guy. It's a real shame though. I feel like a taser would've been a lot better suited for y'know, crowds. Edit: Actually read the article. They didn't even talk to him first. It's a little weird to have an AR-15 at a peaceful protest. That sorta seems like you're about to shoot it up. But c'mon? Not even talking to him first? A little questionable.
It’s a little weird to have an AR-15 at a peaceful protest.
That was throwing me off, too, but at least anecdotally from within the article and other times I have heard it online, that seems to be not all that uncommon in the US in "open carry law" states. Weirds me out, too, but you would expect that people hired 'based on their “military, first responder and other relevant de-escalation experience.”' as per the statement of the organisers, should have de-escalatory tools for precisely open-carry situations before, well, shooting.
It really really bothers me that the most crucial video (the second one in the article) was butchered by fox. I can't find the original but there's seems to be a pretty big cut.
It jumps from a second volunteer arriving to three volunteers, two of them a second away from shooting.
The article reads like a puff piece too.
If you are going to insist on wearing a mask and go to protests like this, rifle in hand, then it's only a matter of time before there's going to be a tragedy. How is anyone supposed to know if you're a good guy when you look just like a bad guy? If Arturo had been carrying concealed, or at least kept the rifle on his back, this wouldn't have happened.
I’m with you on the rifle, but black blocking is an effective protest method to keep police from being able to target individuals. If a large number of people wear all black with masks, it becomes harder to prosecute individual protestors.
In a group that is black blocking, yes.
Being the only person lack blocking with an AR 15 on a side street away from the crowd? That's cosplaying as a mass shooter.
Again, I totally agree about the gun. You just don’t always know who will be black blocked before you go, so sometimes you are one of only a few.
If nobody else did it, then don't be the only one. Either skip that protest or blend in without the mask.
Well, yeah...
The "peacekeeper" killed a peaceful protester, they probably got an interview to be a cop and a pat on the back.
Like, the cops are probably excited this happened
Or he did what he was put there to do.
We know zero about the shooter(s) besides they claimed to be volunteer peacekeepers, but the volunteer peacekeepers were forbidden from carrying guns...
I don't know why people keep acting like they had any type of authority.
They saw a gun carrying a gun breaking zero laws and started blasting.
Good intentions or not, they deserve to be charged and have their firearms taken away.
But this is a larger problem as the article gets into. These "peacekeepers" aren't there to protect from the police, they're there to police protesters and hand anyone further left than they are to the police.
A growing presence at demonstrations in recent years, many protesters hold disdain for protest marshals, pejoratively called “peace police.” To many, the use of marshals hampers spontaneous and autonomous tactics, and puts those who are willing to take more risky actions during protests in danger. In some instances, these “peace police” have gone so far as to isolate and turn in to police protesters who take on more confrontational roles, leading to arrests and police violence.
They're working against the cause not for it, even if they dont understand what's happening
Neoliberals with guns, they do t care about any rules restricting themselves, but will literally murder a bystander if someone else is doing the exact same thing.
Like, when it comes down to it the only people who fucked up were the "peacekeepers". And now someone is dead.