It was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration. On June 14, 2025, Salt Lake City joined a national wave of "No Kings" protests, with an estimated 10,000 to 18,000 people flooding the streets of downtown. By 8 p.m., the energy was high, the chanting was loud, and the march was heading north on State Street. Then, three shots rang out near 151 South State Street.
Panic is a strange, visceral thing. One moment you're marching for a cause; the next, you're diving behind a concrete barrier or sprinting into a parking garage because you don't know where the bullets are coming from. When the smoke cleared, two men were on the ground. One was the intended target. The other was an innocent bystander who would never go home.
The SLC No Kings Shooting: A Breakdown of the Chaos
To understand the SLC No Kings shooting, you have to look at the three main players involved in those few seconds of violence. It wasn't a simple case of a lone gunman or a police action. Instead, it was a messy, tragic intersection of a suspicious individual, an armed "peacekeeper," and a man just trying to participate in a protest.
The Victim: Arthur Folasa Ah Loo
Arthur "Afa" Ah Loo was a 39-year-old fashion designer and a former contestant on Project Runway. He wasn't a threat. He wasn't carrying a weapon. He was a father and a husband who moved to Utah from Samoa and built a life around creativity and community. Police later confirmed he was a completely innocent bystander. One of the three rounds fired that night struck him, and despite the efforts of SWAT medics and bystanders, he died at the hospital.
The Man with the Rifle: Arturo Gamboa
Arturo Gamboa, 24, was spotted by witnesses separating from the crowd and moving behind a wall. According to police reports, he pulled an AR-15-style rifle out of a backpack and began "manipulating" it. He was wearing all black and a mask. When confronted by armed volunteers, witnesses say he raised the rifle and ran toward the crowd on State Street. He was shot once but survived with minor injuries.
The "Peacekeeper": Matt Alder
While the Salt Lake City Police Department was slow to officially name him, legal filings and family statements identified the shooter as Matt Alder, a military veteran acting as a "safety volunteer." He and another man in high-visibility neon vests confronted Gamboa. Alder fired three rounds from a handgun.
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Honestly, the term "peacekeeper" has become a flashpoint for debate in the months following the incident. These weren't licensed security guards or police officers. They were volunteers associated with a local chapter of the 50501 Movement—a group that the national organization later disavowed, specifically citing a "no-weapons" policy that was clearly violated that night.
The Legal Limbo: Why Charges Took So Long
For months, the case sat in a state of frustrating silence. Arturo Gamboa was initially booked on suspicion of murder, under the theory of "depraved indifference"—basically, that his actions created the dangerous situation that led to Ah Loo’s death. But he was released within days. Why? Because the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office didn't have enough to charge him yet.
His defense attorney, Greg Skordas, argued that Gamboa was lawfully carrying an unloaded rifle—which is generally legal in Utah’s open-carry environment—and that he never actually pointed it at anyone.
The Complicated Reality of Utah Law
Utah is a "Stand Your Ground" state with very robust self-defense and defense-of-others statutes. This created a massive headache for District Attorney Sim Gill.
- Was the volunteer justified? If a person reasonably believes that deadly force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to others, they are often protected from prosecution.
- Did Gamboa's behavior cross the line? Carrying a rifle is one thing; running toward a crowd with it in a "firing position" is another.
- The "Transferred Intent" problem. In many jurisdictions, if you are justified in shooting at a threat but accidentally hit a bystander, you might not be criminally liable for that accidental hit.
In late 2025, Laura Ah Loo, Afa’s widow, finally broke the silence. She held a press conference expressing her exhaustion with the lack of transparency. "This is about responsibility," she told reporters. Shortly after, her legal team filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Alder.
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By January 2026, the wheels finally started turning in the criminal justice system. Recent court updates indicate that a manslaughter charge has finally been brought forward, though the legal battle is expected to be a long, grueling process of dissecting every second of video footage captured by the thousands of phones present that night.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Incident
If you spend five minutes on social media, you’ll see two wildly different versions of the SLC No Kings shooting.
One side calls the volunteer a hero who prevented a mass shooting. They argue that if someone pulls a rifle at a protest of 10,000 people, you don't wait for them to pull the trigger. The other side sees it as a "vigilante" disaster. They point out that the only person who actually fired a weapon was the "peacekeeper," and the person who died was an innocent man.
The nuance is in the training—or lack thereof. Professional security is trained in de-escalation and backdrop awareness (knowing what is behind your target). A crowded downtown street is perhaps the worst possible place to engage in a firefight. The tragedy of Afa Ah Loo’s death is a direct result of a bullet missing its intended target in a sea of people.
Critical Takeaways and Next Steps
The shooting changed how Salt Lake City handles large-scale demonstrations. The city has since overhauled its permitting process, requiring much stricter disclosures about who is providing "security" and whether they are armed.
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If you are following this case or attending similar rallies, keep these things in mind:
- Know the Permit Rules: Always check if an event has "marshals" or "peacekeepers" and what their roles are. Organizations like the ACLU often provide observers who are strictly non-interventional.
- Civil vs. Criminal Justice: Even if criminal charges are dismissed or result in an acquittal, civil lawsuits (like the one filed by the Ah Loo family) have a lower burden of proof and are often where the full story comes out through discovery.
- Support the Victims: The Ah Loo family continues to seek support through community-led initiatives and their ongoing legal battle to ensure that "peacekeeping" never looks like this again.
The investigation is technically ongoing as the first court appearances for the 2026 proceedings begin. For those looking to support the family or stay updated, following the official Salt Lake City Police Department updates or the KSL investigative team is the best way to get verified information without the noise of social media speculation.
Actionable Insight: If you plan on participating in public demonstrations, familiarize yourself with "Stop the Bleed" basics. In the SLC shooting, it was the immediate tactical medical care provided by SWAT-trained paramedics and quick-thinking bystanders that gave Ah Loo a fighting chance, even if the outcome was ultimately tragic.
Source References:
- Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD) Official Briefing, June 15, 2025.
- KSL News Investigation: "The Widow's Search for Answers," October 2025.
- Associated Press: "Utah No Kings Shooting: Legal Analysis," June 19, 2025.
- Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office Public Statements, 2025-2026.