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“Colorado considers pepper spray a self-defense tool rather than a weapon (knife or gun). Therefore, the use of pepper spray for defense is permitted. “

That line is repeated in multiple citations discussing the sale of pepper spray in Colorado, so I have no reason to doubt it is accurate.

Various news outlets have shown the picture of the “punch”. In that picture, it is clear that the “punch” is a slap (open hand, and the man is not stepping into it, but leaning back. It is clearly a “swipe”. In that picture, with the hand having JUST hit the face, the shooter’s hand is seen touching the waist of the victim — clearly indicating he was reaching for the pepper spray at the time he got slapped back.

Another picture showing a few seconds later exists on twitter, they marked the ground to show how, at that point, the victim had stepped backwards about 5 feet. Pro-shooter stories say “the man stepped back to pepper spray the reporter”, so they confirm he was retreating.

The picture when the pepper spray is released shows the murderer’s gun pointed directly at the victim, which proves that the gun came up before the pepper was sprayed, and therefor the spray is a rational RESPONSE to a man threatening to kill you. The pepper spray can be seen in the picture, and isn’t directly exactly at the guy since the victim is still stepping backwards.

I can’t find the twitter thread that had all the pictures together, it was referenced in some other article here.

There is a previous video showing the known agitator that seems to be working with the reporter, shouting the n-word at people hoping that one of them will respond with the n-word, or hit him. Our victim does NOT SPRAY THAT MAN. He instead walks away from the man, toward the area where the reported and the murderer were standing.

I have seen no video suggesting the grandfather said anything to the reporter, or threatened him in any way. The pictures I see show that for some reason, the shooter decided he had a right to steal the guy’s pepper spray (being held in a hand, not being sprayed), and when that did not work, deciding that pointing a gun at a person is a legal response to seeing a man with pepper spray (which it clearly is not, as Colorado law allows pepper spray to be used for defense, and pepper spray is NOT A WEAPON in colorado, and therefore you have no right to use a gun in response to seeing a man with a pepper spray can).

They're going to be breaking everything down to the half-second in court over several weeks' time; we'll learn more then, I imagine.

I've only stated that this was an argument that simply escalated; the death was preventable.

You can see in the video I posted that the deceased introduced the pepper spray during an argument he was having with one person and then moved towards someone else, pepper spray still in hand. You can't shoot someone simply because they spray you with pepper spray, but you should know that if you approach someone with pepper spray in hand that it's going to be taken as confrontational.

(It doesn't mean someone is allowed to try and grab it, but it means that you're not exactly de-escalating the situation; the pepper spray was certainly unnecessary for the argument with the one guy but if the deceased took it out needlessly then, I suppose that he wasn't going to feel compelled to put it away anytime soon.)