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A man who believed he was part of a peace maintenance team for the protest of “No Reyes” in Salt Lake City fired a person who wielded a rifle to the protesters, hitting both the riflero and a spectator who later died in the hospital, the authorities said on Sunday.
Police took the alleged riflero, Arturo Gamboa, 24, on Saturday night for a murder position, said Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd, at a press conference on Sunday.
The spectator was Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, Samoa’s fashion designer.
“Our detectives believe he was an innocent spectator,” said the police department in a publication on social networks.
Detectives still do not know why Gamboa brought out what they describe as an AR-15 style rifle, or why he fled the peace forces, but accused him of creating the dangerous situation that led to the death of Ah Loo. Associated Press did not immediately find a lawyer who appears in Gamboa or contact information for his family in public records.
Redd said that the man who believes was part of the peace maintenance team, dressed in a neon green vest, shot three shots from a gamboa gun, inflicting a relatively lower injury but fatally shooting Ah Loo. Redd did not share the name of man.
The police still probe who shot the shots
Volunteer peace maintenance teams are common for protests, said Sarah Parker, National Coordinator for Movement 50501, who was a partner in the “No Reyes” protest. But the organizers ask attendees, including peace maintainers, not bringing weapons, he said. Even so, Parker said they stopped what could have been a larger mass victims event.
“Our security team did the best they could in a situation that is extremely sad and extremely scary,” Parker said.
Ah Loo, known as AFA, was a husband and father of two children and a fashion designer who leaned down in his inheritance in Samoa, according to an organized Gofundme page to keep his family. Ah Loo founded Creative Pacific, an event that celebrates the diversity of the Pacific Islands, with workshops, artists and a fashion track. I was in the 17th season of fashion design show Door Project.
The shots sent hundreds of protesters running, some hidden behind the barriers and fleeing to parking and nearby businesses, police said in a statement.
“That is a weapon. Come on, come on, salt,” you can listen to someone to say in a video posted on social networks that seems to show the events.
The “No Kings” protests extended throughout the United States on Saturday, and the organizers said millions gathered against what they described as the authoritarian tendencies of President Donald Trump.
The shooter and another person in a neon vest allegedly saw Gamboa separated from the multitude of protesters in the center of Salt Lake City, move behind a wall and removed a rifle around 8 pm, Redd said.
When the two men in vests faced Gamboa with their drawn guns, the witnesses said Gamboa raised their rifle to a shot position and ran towards the crowd, said Redd.
It was then that one of the men dressed in the vests shot three rounds, hitting Gamboa and Ah Loo, Redd said. Gamboa, who said the police had no criminal record, was injured and treated before being imprisoned.
Redd said that the actions of the peace forces are also part of the investigation.
Police said they recovered an AR-15 style rifle, a gas mask and a backpack on the scene.
