Arturo Gamboa, the man wounded last week while carrying an AR-15 style rifle during the “No Kings” protest, will be released after prosecutors said Friday afternoon they could not determine whether or not to charge him before a Monday deadline.
The announcement came within hours of Gamboa’s attorneys demanding his release, saying his constitutional rights were being violated by his prolonged incarceration “for a crime he didn’t commit.”
On Thursday, a judge granted a petition from Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill’s office to keep Gamboa behind bars until Monday so it can review a “voluminous” amount of evidence in the case.
But Friday afternoon, Gill’s office announced “that we will not be able to make an informed decision by Monday at 5 p.m. as to the culpability, if any, as to Mr. Gamboa in relation to the fatal shooting of Arthur Folasa Ah Loo.”
Therefore, Gill didn’t oppose the release, provided Gamboa surrender his passport and maintain his residence with a family member. He is also prohibited from possessing any firearms — a condition that Judge James Blanch wrote on the court order, “This is a zero-tolerance condition.”
Prosecutors did not request bail.
Earlier in the afternoon, Gamboa’s attorney, Greg Skordas, contended that detaining Gamboa without charges violated his constitutional rights.
In the petition for his release, Skordas argues that Gamboa was exercising his right under Utah law to open carry a firearm and that, despite never having fired a shot, he is “being unlawfully detained in violation of his constitutional rights and governing procedural rules.”
Gamboa has been in custody since Saturday evening, when officers found him crouching in a group of demonstrators, police said then. After receiving treatment at a hospital for a gunshot wound, he was booked into jail on suspicion of murder, although Salt Lake City police investigators say he never fired a shot.
Authorities say two “safety volunteers” — as described by protest organizers — saw Gamboa carrying his rifle, and one fired three shots. Gamboa was struck, as was Arthur “Afa” Ah Loo, who died.
Skordas argued that Gamboa’s continued detention without appearing before a judge violates his due process rights in the Utah Constitution; his right to appear before a judge guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution; and protections against improper imprisonment in the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure.
“I ask for everyone’s patience,” Gill said Thursday. “When a person loses their life we are all impacted as a community. It is critical that we are thorough, accurate, and faithful to the truth. Arthur Afa Ah Loo’s family and our community of citizens deserve no less.”
Gamboa’s lawyers contend the extension means that Gamboa will remain in jail “for a crime he didn’t commit.”
“There is ample material made public showing that Mr. Gamboa did not commit murder,” they wrote. “Videos show that Mr. Gamboa did not brandish or point his rifle at anyone. Mr. Gamboa was shot in the back while holding his lawfully possessed rifle at his side.”
Skordas said in Friday’s filing that his client is entitled to bail or his release from jail.
“Gamboa has no criminal record and is not a flight risk,” Skordas wrote in the petition. “He has no means by which to flee the jurisdiction and has no reason to flee. He lawfully possessed the firearm. He was not intoxicated or under the influence. Gamboa’s firearm was unloaded. The ‘peacekeeper’ who shot and wounded Gamboa and killed the protester was not arrested or charged.”
On Thursday, the National 50501 group, which organized similar protests in cities nationwide last weekend, severed ties with the local chapter, saying in a social media post that, “Due to SLC 50501’s disregard for our nonnegotiable values, we are no longer affiliated.”
