Nearly two weeks after a shooting at Salt Lake City’s “No Kings” rally left one protester dead, prosecutors are waiting for police to finalize an investigation before weighing criminal charges.
Authorities initially arrested 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa in the immediate aftermath of the June 14 shooting, but investigators later determined Gamboa had not fired his weapon. Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said a member of the event’s “peacekeeping team” confronted Gamboa when they saw him carrying an assault-style rifle, and when Gamboa ran away, the “peacekeeper” fired three shots at him.
One of the peacekeeper’s shots injured Gamboa, but another shot hit 39-year-old Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, who later died.
Gamboa was initially jailed on suspicion of murder after the protest, but he was not formally charged and was later released, on June 20. A judge initially granted a petition from Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill to hold Gamboa until June 23, but Gill said his office would not be able to determine whether to charge Gamboa before that deadline.
“We are in contact with the Salt Lake City Police Department, which is conducting an open and active investigation,” Gill said in a statement Wednesday. “We want to allow the Salt Lake City Police Department the time necessary to finish collecting that evidence. When they are done, detectives will bring their entire investigation results to be screened by our office. At that point, we will follow the evidence and the facts where they take us and so that we can determine what criminal culpability exists and by whom.”
Because the case includes “several involved parties, many witnesses and a substantial amount of digital evidence,” investigators are still working to determine all the details of the shooting, Salt Lake City Police Department spokesperson Brent Weisberg said in a statement.
“Our investigations process is thorough by design and will continue until every viable lead is resolved,” Weisberg added. “... We remain committed to a fact-based investigation and will release additional information when it is appropriate and lawful to do so.”
Investigators are still looking for additional footage or photos surrounding the shooting, which can be uploaded to the department’s public evidence portal. Tipsters can also call 801-799-3000 to provide more information to the department.
The permit request for the protest, which was submitted to the city and provided to The Salt Lake Tribune through an open records request, stated that protest organizers would not be hiring private security or off-duty Salt Lake City police officers for the event.
It remains unclear who made up the protest’s “peacekeeping team,” or what qualifications they held. A Salt Lake City police spokesperson said he could not provide any additional information about the shooter’s identity.