Utah News Dispatch
After No Kings tragedy, a lawmaker wants to clarify Utah’s self-defense law
Flowers and pictures are left at a memorial to Arthur “Afa” Ah Loo, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at the site where he was shot and killed at the “No Kings” protest on State Street in Salt Lake City. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
The family of an innocent bystander killed at a Utah No Kings protest waited almost six months to learn whether prosecutors would file criminal charges in the shooting, a period his widow has described as painful and deeply frustrating.
Now a state lawmaker wants to clarify Utah’s self-defense law, with the aim of helping prosecutors reach faster conclusions.
“We are trying to create a situation where we are not going to be silent about what happened at that rally and we are going to try to create a path forward that’s more clear,” Sen. Kathleen Riebe told colleagues on a Senate criminal justice committee Wednesday.
The panel advanced the measure, SB105, in a 4-1 vote Friday, sending it to the full Senate for consideration.
Prosecutors charge armed volunteer with killing bystander at Utah No Kings protest
At the Salt Lake City protest on June 14, Afa Ah Loo was marching with fellow demonstrators and taking video when an armed safety volunteer accidentally shot him in the head, authorities said. Ah Loo, 39, was a celebrated fashion designer and father of two from Clearfield.
The volunteer, Matthew Scott Alder, also wounded his intended target, a man carrying a rifle during the protest, as permitted by Utah law, according to Salt Lake County prosecutors. On Dec. 3, they charged Alder with manslaughter. Alder’s attorney told Utah News Dispatch last month that the shooting was a tragedy but said Alder did not break any laws.
Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, believes there’s too much legal ambiguity in such devastating cases. She said Utah law doesn’t spell out what should happen when a person is legally justified in using force against an aggressor, but a bystander accidentally gets injured or killed.
She’s working with the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office to create a clearer process for Utah, one she says would bring the state in line with 23 others.
The bill makes clear that when people act reasonably in self-defense, they’re legally protected, said Brett Robinson, the chief policy adviser for the district attorneys’ office. But if their actions fit criminal negligence or recklessness, he told lawmakers on the criminal justice committee Friday, the proposal would help hold them accountable for harming a bystander.
Sen. Brady Brammer, R-Highland, raised concern the bill may go too far.
“I guess what I worry about is, are we creating a scenario where legitimate self-defense becomes less justified?” Brammer asked.
In response, Robinson said it would actually help avoid a scenario of prosecutors filing a murder case against someone who’s legally justified in shooting one person but accidentally kills another.
A prior version of the bill faced opposition from the Utah Shooting Sports Council and the Utah Defense Attorney Association.
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Clark Aposhian, chair of the Shooting Sports Council, told the committee earlier this week that the move isn’t needed.
“Utah law already allows for prosecution when someone acts recklessly or negligently and injures a bystander,” Aposhian said.
The earlier version of the measure would have made it harder for defendants to win on self-defense claims early in the court process, without ever going to trial. The groups did not weigh in Friday during the debate on the updated proposal, which no longer contains that change.
Another bill informed by Ah Loo’s death would ban people from openly carrying guns within 500 feet of large gatherings such as protests. Rep. Verona Mauga, Ah Loo’s friend and a Democrat from Salt Lake City, is sponsoring HB166. It has yet to be scheduled for a public hearing.
The 2026 Legislature adjourns on March 6.
