Left inset: Suspect Arturo Gamboa in custody (KTVU/YouTube). Right inset: Arthur Folasa Ah Loo (GoFundMe). Background: The location where Arthur Folasa Ah Loo was shot during a “No Kings” protest in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday, June 14, 2025 (KTVU/YouTube).
Further information has surfaced regarding the events leading up to the shooting of an “innocent bystander” during a “No Kings” protest in Utah on Saturday. Details reveal that the victim was a cherished fashion designer who had appeared on “Project Runway.” The suspect, reportedly instigating the situation, was allegedly confronted by a father of three while concealing himself among the demonstrators following the gunshots.
Arthur Ah Loo, aged 39, was struck by errant shots from a “peacekeeping” volunteer allegedly attempting to prevent another peacekeeper, Arturo Gamboa, from drawing an AR-15-style rifle from a backpack. Ah Loo’s death was the only casualty reported in the nationwide “No Kings” protests on that day.
Protesters have described Gamboa as being dressed in black and acting calmly before he allegedly tried taking out the rifle, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
One demonstrator, Sam Hernandez, told the local newspaper he and others spotted the stock of the rifle in Gamboa’s backpack after the shooting and confronted him about it while he tried hiding among protesters, the Tribune reports. Video captured by bystander Ben Behunin and obtained by the paper allegedly shows the confrontation, with Hernandez saying loudly, “This is a rifle right here,” moments after prying the gun out of his hands and yelling toward police.
“Hey! This guy, I just grabbed this from this guy. He’s right there!” Hernandez said, according to the Tribune.
“He tried to grab it a little bit,” the father of three later recounted. “But I grabbed it and I held it out for the police.”
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
According to the Salt Lake City Police Department, about 10,000 people were downtown as part of a nationwide protest opposing President Donald Trump‘s military parade in Washington, D.C., and his immigration policies.
Shortly before 8 p.m. cops heard a volley of shots, the police department says, sending panicked demonstrators fleeing for safety in parking garages and local businesses. Officers found a man, later identified as 39-year-old Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, who had been shot. First responders tried saving Ah Loo, but those efforts were unsuccessful and he died.
“The preliminary investigation shows Ah Loo was participating in the demonstration and appears to have been an innocent bystander who was not the intended target of the gunfire,” the police statement said.
Behunin described Hernandez as “one of the heroes in the story,” with police also noting how “the crowd” pointed Gamboa out to law enforcement after he tried hiding among protesters, the Tribune reports. He allegedly had a gas mask inside his backpack, in addition to the gun.
“I wasn’t thinking of my life at all,” Hernandez recalled. “I said, ‘This guy’s got a gun.’ Someone’s got to take him down.”
Hernandez told the Tribune he allegedly spoke to Gamboa at one point, with the exchange happening moments after the shooting.
“I said, ‘Dude, what are you doing with that?’ And he said, ‘I came to protest,”” Hernandez remembered. “I wasn’t sure if he was just having that for protection or not.”
Gamboa is currently being held in jail without bond and awaiting charges.
Ah Loo, also known as “Afa,” has been identified by friends and family as a fashion designer who appeared on season 17 of “Project Runway.”
A GoFundMe launched for his family says, “Afa was a proud Samoan, deeply connected to his culture and community. Through his work with the nonprofit Creative Pacific and his incredible talent as a fashion designer, he shared his heritage with passion and creativity. But more than anything, Afa was proud of the life he built with his wife, Laura, and their two beautiful children, Vera and Isaac.”
