A self-identified “peacekeeper” at Salt Lake City’s “No Kings” protest on Saturday said they saw someone acting suspicious, believed there was an “imminent threat to the protesters” and “took action,” organizers told The Salt Lake Tribune in the group’s first statement since Saturday night.
Ultimately, that action, according to police, involved firing a handgun three times, striking and wounding their target and ultimately killing an innocent protester, Arthur “Afa” Folasa Ah Loo.
“We are mourning Afa Ah Loo with everything we have, and we are holding his family and friends in our heart,” according to a statement shared with The Salt Lake Tribune by a representative for Utah 50501. “Afa’s name, courage, and commitment to his people will never be forgotten. We express our dearest and deepest sympathy to all those who knew and loved him.”
The statement comes amid increased scrutiny of the peacekeepers’ — who organizers are now calling “safety volunteers” — decision to shoot into the crowd, as video circulates purportedly showing the intended target and suspect, 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa, walking toward the protest crowd with a rifle.
Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd told reporters on Sunday that witnesses reported the volunteer shot and wounded Gamboa after he “raised the weapon in a firing position and began running toward the crowd.” The gunfire also hit, and fatally wounded, Ah Loo.
Gamboa, police said, did not fire a shot, and was treated for a gunshot wound that evening and later jailed on suspicion of murder. The volunteer who allegedly fired at him, Redd and Utah 50501 said, has spoken with investigators, but was not arrested after police detained him Saturday. Another member of the protest’s safety team, who police said did not fire, was also detained and let go that evening.
UT50501_20250616_Press_Statement by Jeff Parrott on Scribd
“During the protest, an individual was spotted holding an AR-15-style weapon,” the statement, issued late Monday evening, read. “Our team of safety volunteers, who have been selected because of their military, first responder, and other relevant de-escalation experience, believed that there was an imminent threat to the protesters and took action. The safety volunteer who responded to the individual and who was questioned by police is a military veteran. The person currently in custody was apprehended thanks to a protester who saw the rifle and brought it to police attention.”
A spokesperson for Utah 50501 contacted The Tribune after two reporters sent the local and national coalition multiple emails seeking comment, through both the local and national group’s accounts and the Utah coalition’s website.
The investigation into Saturday’s deadly shooting is still ongoing, they acknowledged, and neither Gamboa, nor the safety volunteers have yet been charged. “We want to thank the SLCPD, first responders, and everyone else for their quick actions on this difficult day,” Utah 50501 added.
(Chris Samuels | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd, left, gives an update at the Salt Lake City Police Department Sunday, June 15, 2025, after police say one person was shot and killed during a rally and march Saturday.
Redd originally referenced the organizer’s safety volunteers as the group’s “peacekeeping team,” but on Monday, Salt Lake City police said in a statement they were using the term to reflect how at least one of the men questioned self-identified. The statement said that police are still investigating whether these men were hired by the organizers, if they volunteered, or if they “acted on their own initiative.”
In a statement posted to the group’s Instagram story Tuesday afternoon, Armed Queers — an LGBTQ+ community group dedicated to the “defense of oppressed people and who have attended other protests — said they were “asked to work as extra members of 50501’s de-escalation team 2 days before the event.”
“We agreed to participate because the organizers were concerned about agitators, but we were given very few details and transparency about the de-escalation plan,” the group’s statement read. “Armed Queers was given very little information about this event or our role in it. We worked as a ‘Secondary De-escalation’ team and had no real interaction with agitators, or coordination with the event organizers while filling that role.”
No members of the Armed Queers group, according to the organization, were “wearing High Vis Vests, and No Armed Queers Members were part of any escalation of events.”
“We grieve the killing of Afa Ah Loo,” the statement concluded. “His life was unjustly cut short, and our hearts are with his family and his community.”
A spokesperson for Utah 50501 had no comment on the statement issued by Armed Queers.
Jeanette Padilla Vega, a community advocate who founded the Food Justice Coalition, said she marched alongside Gamboa at least a half dozen times during Salt Lake City’s protests against police violence after George Floyd’s death in 2020.
“Unfortunately, I think one of the peacekeepers just acted too swiftly and made assumptions,” she said, “and the tragedy happened because of that.”
Padilla Vega, who was recently defeated in a crowded field vying for an open Democratic seat on the Salt Lake County Council, said she never spoke to Gamboa, but noticed him at protests because he always came dressed the same — mostly in black, with his face covered “and always had this rifle.”
At first, Padilla Vega said she wondered if Gamboa had bad intentions in bringing the gun.
“But he was always very calm, very peaceful. He never pointed [the rifle] at anybody. He never even raised it. And then, as he kept showing up,” Padilla Vega said, “I realized he’s definitely on the side of keeping peace.”
What is Utah 50501?
While the march organizers had sought and were approved for a permit, the police statement said the application did not indicate the “presence of organized or armed security.”
The department did know the demonstration would include people in “support roles, such as those helping to marshal or guide the crowd,” but, the statement continued, “these functions are entirely internal to the event.”
“They are not overseen, sanctioned, or trained by the Salt Lake City Police Department,” the statement continued. “From the department’s standpoint, these persons are considered members of the public, subject to the same rights and responsibilities as any other person in Utah.” Neither men are current or former law enforcement officers, police said.
The 50501 movement, according to its website, is a decentralized national effort to protest in all 50 states “the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”
“50501 is a peaceful movement,” they write. “Violence of any kind will not be tolerated.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Medical personnel attend to an injured man after a reported shooting during a demonstration in downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday, June 14, 2025.
The website for the national 50501 group has an organizer resources section with a “Workbook for Action Peacekeepers or Event Marshals,” which includes guidance for de-escalating in situations with firearms present.
“Guns get attention,” the chapter reads. “Guns may be uncommon at most peaceful events (though some places often see them). When they do appear, it can be very scary. Once people are aware of them, everything may revolve around that threat.”
The chapter goes on to encourage that “peacekeepers” remain calm and notes that “a gun may not mean violence is about to ensue.”
“Focus on everyone’s safety and consider your options,” it reads. The workbook then encourages “peacekeepers” or event marshals to avoid sudden moves “that might increase tension or provoke violence.”
“[N]otice whether the person is simply displaying the gun vs. aiming it at people,” the guide says. “If they seem to be preparing to shoot, you need to get people away immediately.”
‘We mourn together’
On Saturday, more than a dozen “No Kings” rallies were hosted in Utah, including two in Salt Lake City. That morning, a rally at the University of Utah was hosted by groups called Indivisible, according to organizer Sarah Buck. She said Indivisible sponsored all Utah events except two — the protest in Ogden and the downtown Salt Lake City march to the Federal Building, which were both organized by Utah 50501.
Both Salt Lake City protests were generally peaceful and included thousands of protesters, with many carrying American flags. Organizers in reflective vests were seen by Tribune reporters at each event. During an “ICE out” protest Thursday at Washington Square Park, organizers in reflective vests helped de-escalate a conflict with a counterprotester wearing a Trump T-shirt.
On Monday evening, more than 100 people gathered in downtown Salt Lake City at a vigil for Ah Loo. There, friends and neighbors remembered the 39-year-old as a great friend, father and fashion designer. Ah Loo had previously appeared on the television show Project Runway, and is survived by his wife and two children.
“As we mourn together with Afa’s wife and family, we uplift his memory as a devoted husband and father, a selfless pillar of our Pacific Islander Community, a uniquely gifted artist and creator, and an inspiring teacher and mentor for so many,” Utah Reps. Verona Mauga and Jake Fitisemanu Jr. said in a statement Monday.
