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On the one-year anniversary of a police-involved fatal shooting of a black man, protesters descended upon the Colorado Springs neighborhood of one of the officers involved in the shooting and demanded his firing, KRDO-TV reported.
What are the details?
While there wasn't any violence at the Monday protest, the fact that some demonstrators were carrying guns didn't sit well with a few residents.
Image source: Twitter video screenshot
Dion Elmore told the station in a separate article that he believed such a show of force "was almost like an intimidation tactic."
KRDO said there was at least one confrontation between the armed protesters and several drivers in pickup trucks who were blocked by the crowd.
This truck is trying to get through but is being blocked by a car and protestors. Some of them carrying guns. https://t.co/HOcJqui3jH— Chase Golightly (@Chase Golightly) 1596496982.0
Here's more of what appears to be the same confrontation between the driver and protesters:
CSPD again telling protestors to continue moving. This truck on the right tried to drive through but was stopped. https://t.co/3rbvXsy2oc— Chase Golightly (@Chase Golightly) 1596497218.0
Afterward, the station added, the armed protesters moved out of the way and let the drivers through.
But one resident wasn't messing around
KRDO noted that one of the drivers in question retrieved a rifle and stood guard in his driveway while he called police.
Indeed, reporter Andrew McMillan tweeted that after the now-armed driver faced down the crowd, "protesters put their hands up and walked away."
CSPD forced the crowd to let this man through in his pickup truck. When he got home, he pulled out a rifle. Protest… https://t.co/K7DlxTlUcq— Andrew McMillan (@Andrew McMillan) 1596497643.0
Another resident, Bobby Cox, told KRDO that while he and his wife were warned in advance about the protest, they were still nervous not knowing what could happen.
"You hear all these things, see all these things on TV, it's a little scary," he said. "At our age, we don't want to be confronting anybody or anything like that. There wasn't anything like that going on."
Here's video of the protest. The portion with the resident holding a rifle begins just after the 30-minute mark.
Content warning: Language:
Anything else?
The station said the neighborhood targeted by protesters is near Pulpit Rock Park where one of the officers involved in the shooting — Sgt. Alan Van't Land — allegedly lives. The Associated Press said Van't Land's residence was roped off at the time of the protest, and no one appeared to be inside the house.
The outlet added that Van't Land and Officer Blake Evenson were cleared of any wrongdoing by a grand jury for the shooting. The officers said they didn't see a gun before shooting 19-year-old De'Von Bailey last August as he ran away but believed he had one as he was holding his waistband, the Denver Post reported.
