Felony charges have been filed by the Salt Lake County Attorney’s office in connection with the No Kings protest that took place over the summer, where 39-year-old Arthur “Afa” Folasa Ah Loo was killed by gunfire.
One count of second-degree manslaughter was filed against 39-year-old Matthew Alder, a so-called “peacekeeper” at the event.
No actions are being taken at this point by either the county or the legal team of Ah Loo’s widow, Laura Ah Loo, against the man Alder was allegedly aiming at, Arturo Roberto Gamboa. Police reports say Gamboa was openly carrying a rifle and that Alder was concerned he was going to fire on the crowd.
Laura Ah Loo’s team said they believe the DA filed the appropriate charges against Alder and that they would be filing a wrongful death suit against Alder in the near future.
Alder is accused of “recklessly” firing and causing the death of Afa Ah Loo on June 14.
According to the filing, Alder and another “peacekeeper” who was listed as “A.F.” were a part of the safety team for the protest and told detectives that they grew suspicious of Gamboa, “who was dressed in all black, with a hood over his head, carrying a black backpack.”
“A.F. began to be concerned, stating that he understood open carry, but that this felt different as Gamboa was assembling it under cover,” per the filing. “Gamboa then began moving towards State Street towards the march and A.F. saw the barrel of the rifle and believed that Gamboa was about to commit a mass shooting. He was joined by ALDER and recalled both of them yelling ‘Stop, drop it, drop the gun,’ but Gamboa was not responding. A.F. stated that he ‘should have dropped him,’ but by the time Gamboa was moving A.F. did not have a shot. A.F. stated, ‘there’s no way I can shoot him when he’s running toward a crowd. I mean, I’m accountable for every bullet that comes out of my gun.’ As Gamboa continued to move toward the street, A.F. recalled ALDER, who was standing to his left, fire at Gamboa.”
Alder allegedly fired three rounds into the crowd toward Gamboa. One shot fatally wounded Afa Ah Loo, and another hit Gamboa in the abdomen area, but he survived.
Alder also reportedly told detectives several days after the incident that he witnessed multiple people open carrying that day, but believed Gamboa was going to “mag dump into a crowd of people to kill as many people as he could.”
Charging documents said that after the incident, “detectives located three loaded rifle magazines in Gamboa’s cargo pants along with a knife. In his backpack, detectives located a disassembled AR-15 rifle, a Venezuelan flag, and other identification documents.”
Though the DA’s office argued that Gamboa’s actions could be perceived as “alarming and irresponsible,” he was within his legal right to carry the rifle as he did.
But Alder’s actions on June 14 were “reckless,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Wednesday during a press conference.
“We believe that the third shot was the reckless shot,” he said, “and while you may have a right to use lethal force, that doesn’t mean that lethal force can be used in a reckless manner ... and if it is reckless, it is manslaughter.”
Not deemed a flight risk, Alder was criminally summoned to appear before a judge, though no date has yet been set.
Afa Ah Loo’s widow: Charges are step in the right direction
Laura Ah Loo, on Wednesday in a separate news conference, said she appreciated the DA’s office for working to bring justice for the “negligent manslaughter” of her husband.
“For five months, there had not yet been any accountability for actions or clarity as to how such a horrific incident would be addressed, nor remorse from Matt Alder himself for taking Afa’s life from us and from the world,” she said. “Today’s charges represent a significant first step in the right direction and establish a precedent that I hope will lead to a safer environment at public gatherings in the future. No one else should have to go through what I have experienced in the future.”
Her attorney, Jim McConkie, reiterated the need for future policy to prevent a tragedy like this from occurring again. Several states ban firearms from being carried at demonstrations like the No Kings rally.
“Even in the states who have laws that permit people to carry weapons, they still have laws that prevent them from taking them to a political rally or into a church or onto a campus, and states far more conservative than our own have felt that those kinds of restrictions are appropriate,” McConkie said.
“As more information becomes more available to us, it will provide us with a better understanding of what happened and what we can do in the future to make public meetings and public gatherings safer, especially in the context of our democracy, where people gather to protest and to express their points of view,” he added.
