Tragedy at ‘No Kings’ Rally: Peacekeeper Shoots AR-15-Wielding Man, Hits Bystander
What was supposed to be a peaceful protest in downtown Salt Lake City tragically turned into a violent day on Saturday as a shooting incident led to one man’s death and the injury of another, thus sending shockwaves among the crowd of thousands.
The “No Kings” protest was one of the rallies across the United States against the military parade that former President Donald Trump planned and his other political movements. Allegedly, the gathering drew a crowd of 10,000 people, but before 8 p.m., a climate of order had been disturbed by the sound of gunshots, which prompted the participants to find hiding places in the parking lots and the nearby stores they entered in panicked conditions.
In response to the emergency call, when the officers arrived at the place of events, they found Mr. Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, of 39 years, suffering from the deadly injuries of a gunshot wound. The best efforts of the first aiders could not prevent Mr. Ah Loo from dying.
When the police arrived to help, they found Arturo Gamboa near the location—dressed in black attire covering him from head to toe, along with a mask. Gamboa got shot too and he was lying with an AR-15-type rifle next to him. Gamboa was apprehended immediately but questions started to arise around the facts of what had exactly happened in those few chaotic seconds.
Two neon-vested team members who were eyewitness participants of the peace rally also were taken into custody. The police taking this action said that these peacekeepers had been on a lookout for the crowd and had even noticed the first stages of the suspicious behavior of Gamboa. They were the ones who reported that the suspect had hidden behind the wall to reach the backpack and take out the infiltrated rifle and then started moving towards any of the crowd’s directions, before any actions were taken.
One of the peacekeepers took that moment as an opportunity and fired the shots – three in all. Two were injured from the shots, one was the gunman and the other one, unfortunately, was Ah Loo, who passed away.
Even though Gamboa did not shoot his weapon, today he is accused of murder. Salt Lake City police say the charges are due to what they termed “depraved indifference to human life” – his decision to have and point a gun in a crowded public setting, which indirectly caused the death of a person.
At this time, detectives are doing their best to find out why Gamboa did what he did. It is not yet clear to them why he took the rifle to the protest, why he tried to approach the crowd, or why he fled when the peacekeepers confronted him.
Police Chief Brian Redd stressed that all facts of the case are under the microscope by the investigating team. “A single act cannot and will not be allowed to cast a shadow of fear over our community,” he stated in a public release.
Meanwhile, the investigation is still ongoing, and one thing is undeniable—that the originally peaceful protest could have ended in a tragedy is a fact, which indeed instigates thoughts about safety, intention, and the unforeseen hazards which might not necessarily occur in places designed for non-violent expression.
