
Man killed at ‘No Kings' protest in Salt Lake City remembered as an acclaimed Polynesian designer
Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, an innocent bystander who was shot and killed Saturday at a 'No Kings' protest in Utah, is being remembered as a celebrated fashion designer who dressed the likes of 'Moana' star Auli'i Cravalho and cast members of 'The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.' He also committed his life to both his Pacific Islander culture and his role as a father.
Ah Loo, the 39-year-old head of fashion house Afa Ah Loo, 'was not the intended target of the gunfire,' Salt Lake City police said. Despite lifesaving efforts by first responders, Ah Loo died at a local hospital, officials said.
In an emotional post on social media, Cravalho said there were 'no words to hold the grief of losing' Ah Loo.
'Your artistry will never be forgotten; and neither will your peaceful protest,' Cravalho said. "My deepest condolences, sympathies and Aloha to his family, and all who felt his impact.'
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NBC News
4 hours ago
- NBC News
'Peacekeepers' under scrutiny in deadly Salt Lake City protest shooting
Utah officials are investigating the role that so-called peacekeepers played in the killing of celebrated fashion designer Arthur Folasa Ah Loo on Saturday at the 'No Kings' demonstration in Salt Lake City, police said. The investigation will focus on staffing at the march, including the responsibilities assigned to people working and volunteering at the protest. It was unclear, police said, whether the 'peacekeepers' were hired by event organizers or acted on their own. 'While the Salt Lake City Police Department was aware that Saturday's demonstration would include people in support roles, such as those helping to marshal or guide the crowd, these functions are entirely internal to the event,' police said in a statement. 'From the department's standpoint, these persons are considered members of the public, subject to the same rights and responsibilities as any other person in Utah,' it continued. No state permit is required to purchase a rifle, shotgun or handgun in Utah. The event permit did not include any mention of armed security, police said. Neither of the men involved in Ah Loo's shooting are current or former members of law enforcement. They were wearing high-visibility neon green vests and carrying handguns. Ah Loo, 39, died Saturday night at a hospital after being struck by a bullet that was intended for a man who is now in police custody, Arturo Gamboa. Two 'peacekeepers' told police they saw Gamboa, 24, pull out an AR-15-style rifle from a backpack and 'begin manipulating it.' They shouted at Gamboa to drop his weapon, but he allegedly advanced on a crowd of protesters with his rifle raised, according to police records. One of the 'peacekeepers' fired three rounds at Gamboa and accidentally hit Ah Loo, police said. Gamboa received minor injuries and was arrested at the scene for investigation of murder. Although he did not fire the fatal shot, Gamboa could be charged with murder because detectives 'developed probable cause that Gamboa acted under circumstances that showed a depraved indifference to human life, knowingly engaged in conduct that created a grave risk of death and ultimately caused the death of an innocent community member,' police said. Event organizers from the 50501 Movement - Utah did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement posted to social media, the group thanked first responders and safety teams. 'And to the protester we lost, we will not forget you,' the statement said. The national chapter of 50501 said in a statement posted to social media that a 'local volunteer' fired the three rounds that killed Ah Loo. The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'In the face of this heartbreaking situation, we would like to reaffirm our commitment to nonviolence and to our non-negotiable prohibition of firearms policy for anyone representing 50501 at any of our actions or events,' the statement read. 'It is clear we do not have a complete understanding of what happened yet. 'What is certain is that, if no guns were present at the protest, this tragedy would have been prevented altogether.'


The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Donald Trump Jr baselessly claims transgender ‘movement' is ‘most violent domestic terror threat' in the world
As Minnesota reels from a series of shootings targeting Democratic lawmakers and their families, Donald Trump Jr. is baselessly claiming that transgender people are in fact the biggest domestic public safety threat, despite no clear evidence that this is the case. 'In leftist states and in blue states, they don't want to enforce [the law] because they understand that's their voter base, no different than immigration, so rather than follow the law, they'd rather let them get away with it so they vote for more Democrats again,' Trump said of recent anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles and 'No Kings' demonstrations. Hundreds have been arrested at the ICE protests, while smaller contingents were detained at 'No Kings' events across the country, which were largely peaceful. 'Just like the radical transgender movement is per capita the most violent domestic terror threat in America, probably the entire world, because you have all these shooters or murders or attempted murderers in such a tiny population of a country, yet they're beyond reproach,' Trump continued. Credible analyses of mass shootings in America suggest that transgender people, who make up around one percent of the population, are either proportionately represented in the ranks of violent incidents, or may be disproportionately under represented. 'Is there a serious threat by (transgender people) in terms of violence?' Victor Asal, a University at Albany political science professor, told PolitiFact last year. 'If you compare it to extremist right wingers and all sorts of other extremists, I think the answer is very easy. And the answer is no.' 'There's no evidence whatsoever that trans people are any more dangerous than cisgender people,' Henry Fradella, an Arizona State University professor of criminology and criminal justice who has studied such data, told NBC News. The Department of Homeland Security's most recent 'Homeland Threat Assessment' makes no explicit mention of transgender people, and the department warned in 2023 that threats of violence against LGBT+ people are on the rise. Public safety data collection on incidents involving transgender people is confounded by a number of other factors, including sporadic record-keeping practices across police agencies, unreported incidents, and low trust between members of the trans community and the police. Under the Biden administration, the federal government issued its first national strategy on countering domestic terrorism, which identified white supremacist and anti-government violence as 'the most urgent terrorism threat the United States faces today.' Despite the paucity of evidence, in recent years, right-wing figures, including Donald Trump Jr., have attempted to link mass shootings to some larger alleged danger from transgender people, part of a larger trend of quickly politicizing mass shootings online. After the Minnesota shootings, conspiracists on the right quickly suggested Democrats had somehow ordered an assassination on a top Democratic lawmaker, despite suspect Vance L. Boelter reportedly being a Trump voter with an alleged hit list of Democratic officials and pro-choice advocates. What the evidence does show is that transgender people are disproportionately likely to be victims of violent crime. The allegations from the president's son come as the Trump administration has made a major priority of stripping government protections and access to services from transgender people. The president has signed an executive order denying the transgender identity federal recognition, and the White House has moved to kick trans people out of the military and block them from accessing services, including healthcare, travel documentation, and protective prison housing in ways that specifically consider their transgender identity. In a Truth Social post on Sunday calling for mass immigration operations targeting cities that form the 'core of the Democrat Power Center,' the president accused Democrats of being 'sick of mind' and intentionally destroying cities through their support of policies including what he called 'Transgender for Everybody.'


Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
'Disrespectful' couple faces furious backlash after getting engaged during brutal 'No Kings' protest
A couple is facing major backlash after a video surfaced of their engagement - which took place in the middle of a brutal 'No Kings' protest. The viral clip shows the pair embracing in the middle of a street in Los Angeles, just a few steps away from a line of police officers in full riot gear and mounted on horseback. As chaos unfolds in the background, the couple shares a kiss and poses for photos, seemingly oblivious to the tense political moment surrounding them. The engagement happened on Sunday during a 'No Kings' protest as millions rallied against what they described as President Donald Trump 's authoritarian tendencies. Protesters had gathered to speak out against ICE, immigration policies, and what they viewed as authoritarian displays of power. But instead of blending into the crowd, the couple's very public (and very poorly timed) engagement quickly became the main event - at least online. Footage of the moment, which has since been shared across platforms like X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Instagram, left viewers shocked, confused, and frankly, furious. It didn't take long for the internet to do what it does best: react. Many users expressed that doing something like proposing in front of a line of police officers was making light of the important issues that were being protested in the first place. 'Proposals and quirky signs and cosplaying… can we actually be serious about this s**t for once,' one X user said. 'Families being ripped apart and they're focused on getting a viral moment during a protest,' another user shared. Some users pointed out that this felt like an attention-grabbing situation, taking away from the reason why people were protesting. 'Making mass deportation and the ripping of families apart about you is WILD I don't know about y'all,' another user added. But no matter what criticism anyone had, it all had the same general gist: it was the wrong time and place for the engagement. Some even pointed out that it was this same attitude that brought upon the reason for protesting in the first place. 'If I were to say a lot of you "protestors" are solely going to these protests as a way to flaunt on social media and be performative about your activism and probably didn't even vote in the election thus the reason we are in this mess then what?' one user shared. Critics said that the moment was taking attention away from the purpose of the protest The viral proposal came amid an entire weekend of 'No Kings' protests across the country, including one in Salt Lake City that turned deadly. Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, was shot and killed while attending the protest as a bystander. Police say the gunfire came from a member of a volunteer 'peacekeeping' team who was trying to stop a man, Arturo Gamboa, from advancing into the crowd with an AR-15-style rifle. One of the shots meant for Gamboa struck Ah Loo instead. Gamboa, who survived, was arrested and charged with murder for his role in creating what police described as a 'grave risk of death.' The shooting has cast a dark shadow over the protests, leaving many outraged at the performative behavior of some attendees - including the couple's viral engagement.