Back in June, there were thousands of No Kings demonstrations all across America. They drew large numbers of patriotic citizens who engaged in peaceful protests opposing the many authoritarian moves of the Trump administration.
In Salt Lake City, an innocent bystander was shot and killed by a self-proclaimed “peacekeeper” who was aiming at someone else.
This month, there were many more No Kings demonstrations, including Salt Lake City and other Utah communities, drawing upwards of 7 million peaceful marchers. This time, we didn’t see the kind of violence we saw in Salt Lake. Anywhere.
But this second day of protest served to remind us here in Salt Lake City that all of those involved in the incident on June 14 are still waiting to hear who, if anyone, will be charged with a crime in the death of Arthur Folasa Ah Loo.
We’re more than four months out, and the public does not know if a crime was committed, or by whom. Those directly involved, and the family of the man who was killed, don’t know, either.
It is hard to imagine that such quiet deliberation would be the result of an incident in which a prominent white man was killed.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill has promised answers and cited the complicated nature of the case. But it is time to get this resolved.
It is true that the hundreds of potential witnesses, a flurry of social media posts and eyewitness videos must be difficult to sift through. It is also true that Utah’s Second Amendment-loving Legislature has passed laws that make it difficult for law enforcement to tell the difference between what the law considers criminal assault and what might be protected as the actions of “a good guy with a gun.”
The “peacekeeper” who accidentally killed Ah Loo was aiming at Arturo Gamboa, who was openly carrying a rifle that many a reasonable person might have interpreted as a clear and present danger. Gamboa was shot and wounded — and arrested. And released several days later.
The man who fired the only shots that day has not been charged, yet, and thus has not been publicly named by prosecutors or the local news media.
All this waiting for a resolution must be agonizing for that person, as well as for Gamboa and the Ah Loo family.
It’s time for Gill to decide what charges, if any, are justified, and to explain why. Or why not.
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