A statement from the Salt Lake City Police Department about the recent deadly shooting at the city’s No Kings protest is now under scrutiny. Newly surfaced bystander videos appear to directly contradict the account outlined in the department’s press release.
Officers say the shooting happened just before 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 14 near Salt Lake City's State Street, where around 10,000 people had gathered for a permitted demonstration. A sergeant with the department’s motor squad reported hearing gunfire and called it in. As panic spread, protesters ran for cover, hiding in parking garages and nearby businesses.
Emilia was at the protest with her friends, Aurora and McKayla, who all asked that UPR only use their first names. She said they were just a few feet behind the shooter, and recalled how the scene was immediately overtaken by law enforcement officers and vehicles.
“It was just so loud," she said. "I've never seen a gun fired in my life. My brain didn't register that it was a gunshot until my friends yelled and said, ‘We need to go.’”
When officers arrived, they found 39-year-old Afa Ah Loo with a gunshot wound. He’d been attending the protest and, according to police, appeared to be an innocent bystander. Officers and paramedics tried to save him, but he died at the hospital.
Around 8 p.m. police said they were flagged down about a block away, and found another man with a gunshot wound — 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa. He was dressed in all black, wearing a mask, and crouching among a group of people, according to the press release. Witnesses pointed out a nearby AR-15-style rifle, along with a gas mask, clothing, and a backpack.
In their statement, detectives said Gamboa had pulled a rifle from his backpack and was running toward the crowd of demonstrators with the weapon raised when two members of the event’s peacekeeping team — who are not law enforcement — confronted him. They ordered him to drop the gun. According to the statement, when he didn’t, one of them fired three shots, hitting both Gamboa and Ah Loo.
But video footage from bystanders shows Gamboa only walking — with the barrel of his gun pointed at the ground. And the footage reveals that it wasn’t until after the peacekeeper fired the first shot that Gamboa began to run.
McKayla said seeing a man marked just by a yellow vest only added to the confusion.
“It was disorienting, too, because of the fact that he wasn't marked as a cop," she said. "When you see the person shooting the gun, but they're not pointing it into the crowd, but they're obviously aiming it at someone, you're like, is that a cop? Is that not? Like, who the crap is this guy with a gun?”
Despite not having discharged his weapon, Gamboa was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on suspicion of murder. He was released on Friday, but could still be charged by Salt Lake County prosecutors.
The police say the actions of the peacekeepers — who protest organizers are calling “safety volunteers” — are also currently under investigation, although the name of the shooter has not been released to the public.
According to the police, the event permit for the demonstration did not specify there would be armed security present, and Sarah Parker, a national coordinator for the 50501 Movement, said both attendees and safety personnel were instructed not to bring weapons. In the wake of the shooting, the organization said it would be severing ties with the local chapter which organized the protest in Salt Lake City.
The three friends who witnessed the shooting were in agreement that guns had no place at a peaceful protest. But Aurora added that if firearms were going to be present, the crowd should have been better informed.
“It was difficult to distinguish them from the police officers," she recalled. "And I do think if you have somebody who is wielding a firearm, who is kind of like in a peacekeeper position, they should be just as trained as officers — if not more so — to use that firearm.”
