Is the rhetoric to blame?

Are the individuals engaging in rhetoric to blame?

Or are the individuals who engaged in the prior misbehavior (which led to the rhetoric) and their supportive enablers to blame?

That right there seems to be the question.

In other words, Darren Goforth died as much as a result of prior police behavior as he did because of the existence of anti-police rhetoric.

Of course you could make the case that "as much as" = "not", ie. that was not why he died. He died because some loser was stupid enough to kill him in cold blood.