Wife of man killed at No Kings protest in Salt Lake City plans to sue 

Laura Ah Loo speaks at a celebration of life for her husband, Arthur “Afa” Ah Loo, at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City on Friday, June 27, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

More than four months have passed since Salt Lake City’s event in the nationwide No Kings protest ended in the shooting and killing of Arthur “Afa” Ah Loo, a 39-year-old Clearfield man. But, a charging decision from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office still hasn’t come, and Ah Loo’s widow now plans to file a lawsuit in her quest for answers. 

James McConkie, the attorney representing Laura Ah Loo, said on Wednesday that his team is seeking more details about the shooting from Salt Lake City, and a speedier decision from the district attorney’s office on whether or not it’ll be pursuing charges against the shooter.

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“Thirdly,” McConkie said, “we are about to file a lawsuit, because we need to seek transparency, to find out what happened in this situation that may have contributed to a more dangerous environment for those who were protesting, exercising their constitutional rights.”

Ah loo was killed on June 14 in a chaotic scene when an armed member of the event’s “peacekeeping team” saw Arturo Gamboa, a demonstrator, openly carrying a rifle, which is permitted under Utah law. The “peacekeeper” fired three rounds, grazing Gamboa and killing Ah Loo, a bystander, according to Salt Lake police. 

Since then, details about the event’s organization have been unclear. The national 50501 group, which organized the No Kings protests across the country disowned the Utah chapter for violating its “strict no-weapons policy,” and Salt Lake City changed its special events permitting process after discovering that the No Kings protest applicant may have submitted the permit application under an alias and didn’t disclose plans to use armed security in the June event. 

McConkie said he believes the lawsuit will help his team “find lapses that created a dangerous situation,” including the deployment of private armed security. 

“One of the reasons for that is that the police are empowered and trained to know what to do in these types and kinds of situations, and are more likely to be honored and obeyed,” McConkie said. “When a private peacekeeper draws a pistol and fires into a crowd, it’s simply unacceptable.”

The attorneys may file the lawsuit in a few weeks, first against the peacekeeper who fired the shots, whose name has not yet been released by law enforcement. And then, as more details emerge in court proceedings, McConkie’s team will decide whether or not to include the city, the Salt Lake City Police Department, or the national and local chapters of 50501 as defendants in the case, he said.

In the meantime, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement that his office expects to reach a decision soon.

“We sympathize with the pain and loss suffered by the Ah Loo family. We met with them early in the process and explained that this review would take time. We have been open and available to any reach in from their counsel from our first meeting and continue to be,” Gill said. “We are carefully working through a complex and nuanced legal analysis.”

In McConkie’s view, this case isn’t complex enough to take this long, he said. One of the reasons, McConkie said, is that the incident was recorded, showing that Gamboa didn’t raise his gun and wasn’t threatening anyone when the shooting happened.

“If the police had handled that situation instead of a safety officer or private guard, we believe they would have been trained to have gone up to the person carrying the weapon,” McConkie said. “He has a right to do it in the state of Utah, to open-carry a weapon.”

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