Project Runway star is killed at anti-Trump 'No Kings' rally
When Gamboa ran towards a crowd with the rifle in a firing position, the peacekeeping team opened fire on him. Ah Loo was caught in the crossfire and shot. The fashion designer, who leaves behind a wife and two young children, later died at a local hospital , authorities said Sunday. Police took the alleged shooter into custody on Saturday evening on a murder charge. Detectives don't yet know why he pulled out a rifle.
Ah Loo, from Samoa, recently became an American citizen and voted for the first time during the 2024 election. He attended the No Kings march because he 'believed that everyone was deserving of basic human rights', Utah Rep. Verona Mauga told KSL-TV . Ah Loo, known as 'Afa', was a husband and father to two children and a fashion designer who leaned into his Samoan heritage, according to a GoFundMe page organized to support his family.
Ah Loo founded Creative Pacific, an event celebrating the diversity of the Pacific Islands, with workshops, artists and a fashion runway. He was on Season 17 of the fashion design reality TV show Project Runway. The peacekeeper, who was dressed in a neon green vest, fired three shots from a handgun at Gamboa, inflicting a relatively minor injury but fatally shooting Ah Loo.
Authorities did not share the man's name. Ah Loo, an innocent bystander participating in Saturday's march, was with a group of friends when the shots were fired into the crowd, Mauga told the TV station. The gunshots sent hundreds of protesters running, some hiding behind barriers and fleeing into parking garages and nearby businesses, police said in a statement.
'That's a gun. Come on, come on, get out,' someone can be heard saying in a video posted to social media that appears to show the events. The designer's friends realized 'something wrong may have happened' when they did not hear back from him after the chaos broke out, Mauga added. 'Afa is a person who believed in equity and equality for all people and all communities,' she said.
'That's why he was there. He was with his community and he was with people he cared about, marching and rallying for all of those things that make our community, like, really great.' Police said the shooter and another person in a neon vest allegedly saw Gamboa separate from the crowd of marchers in downtown Salt Lake City, move behind a wall and withdraw a rifle around 8 p.m. Saturday.
When the two men in vests confronted Gamboa with their handguns drawn, witnesses said Gamboa raised his rifle into a firing position and ran toward the crowd, said Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd. That's when one of the men dressed in the vests shot three rounds, hitting Gamboa and Ah Loo. SWAT medics immediately performed life-saving care to the bystander before firefighters and paramedics stepped in.
The coroner will determine Ah Loo's official cause and manner of death. Gamboa, who police said didn't have a criminal history, was wounded and treated before being booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail. He was seen in dramatic pictures and videos being arrested and taken away on a stretcher by police and paramedics. Officers also located a backpack belonging to Gamboa that contained an 'AR-15 style rifle' and gas mask, according to Redd. Redd added that the peacekeepers' actions are also part of the investigation.
Volunteer peacekeeping teams are common for protests, said Sarah Parker, a national coordinator for 50501 Movement, which was a partner in the No Kings protest. But the organizers ask attendees, including the peacekeepers, not to bring weapons, she said. Still, Parker said they stopped what could've been a larger mass casualty event. 'Our safety team did as best as they could in a situation that is extremely sad and extremely scary,' said Parker. The Associated Press did not immediately find an attorney listed for Gamboa or contact information for his family in public records.
No Kings protests swept across the country on Saturday, and organizers said millions rallied against what they described as President Donald Trump's authoritarian tendencies. Confrontations were largely isolated. In Riverside, California, authorities said a driver of an SUV struck a woman who was participating in a demonstration and sped away. The woman had 'significant injuries' but was stable, police said, adding that they were still searching for the driver. Outside the Arizona statehouse, a social media video showed protesters Saturday jeering at and then skirmishing with a masked man, who eventually pulled out a handgun, causing the crowd to scatter. Another video showed Arizona Department of Public Safety officers taking the man into custody.
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