The man who carried a rifle — but did not fire it — during the June “No Kings” protest in Salt Lake City in which a protester was killed spoke publicly for the first time, saying he has been “lambasted on an international scale.”
“The only thing I was doing was engaging in my First and Second Amendment rights,” Arturo Gamboa, 24, told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
Gamboa, who was initially treated as a suspect after the shooting, should have been treated as a victim, according to his attorney, Greg Skordas.
Skordas told reporters Gamboa suffered a shot to the back, while another bullet grazed his finger. A third shot fired hit and killed another marcher, fashion designer Arthur Folasa “Afa” Ah Loo.
Gamboa, 24, expressed condolences to Ah Loo’s family. “I pray for their healing,” he said. “I hope God replaces their pain and grieving with feelings of remembrance.”
Dressed in a black leather jacket and beret, Gamboa’s outfit at Tuesday’s news conference matched the revolutionary tone of his comments. Several supporters, including his mother and a handful of friends, sat among the reporters. Occasionally, his supporters snapped their fingers in solidarity as he recounted what he had been through and explained his leftist ideology.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Arturo Gamboa, who was arrested after being shot at a “No Kings” march in Salt Lake City in June, holds a news conference onTuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. Gamboa was arrested the night of the shooting but was later released after investigators determined he never fired his weapon.
Gamboa said he was frustrated with the media for what he called a false narrative that formed immediately after the shooting, one that painted him as the perpetrator even though his rifle was not loaded, and he himself was shot.
“My name and face have been lambasted on an international scale,” he said. “My life will never be the same.”
Spending a week in jail after the shooting was “judicial slavery,” Gamboa said. He cited the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which banned slavery after the Civil War — but allows an exception for incarcerated people to work for no or little pay.
When asked if he thought officers were showing racial bias in arresting him, Gamboa drew comparisons to the Black Panther Party of the 1960s, in which he said the right of people of color to carry firearms “was treated as some sort of terroristic threat.”
Gamboa was one of 10,000 marchers to join “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump and his administration on June 14 in downtown Salt Lake City. He was carrying an AR-15-style rifle, something a friend later said he had done previously during protests without problems.
Exercising his Second Amendment rights, Gamboa said, is not exclusively for people who politically lean to the right.
In future protests, Gamboa said he may again carry his rifle — though he said he would have to feel more confident in the protest organizers’ ability to keep people safe.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office filed a manslaughter charge on Dec. 3 against Matthew Scott Alder, 43, an armed security volunteer at the event.
According to the charging documents, Alder saw Gamboa walking toward a crowd of protestors with an AR-15 style rifle. Alder told investigators he was worried Gamboa would “mag dump into a crowd of people to kill as many people as he could.” Prosecutors said in the charging document that Alder fired three rounds toward Gamboa, one of which struck and killed Ah Loo.
Immediately after the shooting, Skordas said, the police questioned both Gamboa and Alder, but only Gamboa, who had not fired a single shot, was arrested the night of the shooting.
“I don’t advise carrying guns in this fashion, and I can understand why it caused some concern,” Skordas said. “But what caused some concern in this case wasn’t that Arturo was carrying a gun, so much as a large Hispanic man was carrying a gun.”
Gamboa was booked into Salt Lake County jail the next day when he was released from the hospital. Days later, Gamboa’s lawyers filed a writ of habeas corpus — an order to bring Gamboa before a judge to determine if he was being lawfully detained. Only then, his lawyers said, was Gamboa released from jail, with no charges filed.
When Skordas met Gamboa in jail, the lawyer said he was shocked to see the nature of restraints his client was made to wear, even while incarcerated. Gamboa’s hands and legs were cuffed, Skordas remembered, and he had a leash. Never in his 43 years of practicing law had Skordas seen that before, he said.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Arturo Gamboa, who was arrested after being shot at a “No Kings” march in Salt Lake City in June, holds a news conference alongside his attorney Greg Skordas, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. Gamboa was arrested the night of the shooting but was later released after investigators determined he never fired his weapon.
“He’s in jail. He’s not going anywhere,” he said. “At the same time, he’s got a bullet hole going through him.”
Skordas described Gamboa as “a good man,” and said the arrest was his first time in jail.
The legal culpability of Ah Loo’s death remained in question for almost six months, until Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill charged Alder on Dec. 3.
Though Gill did not file charges against Gamboa, he said that Gamboa’s actions “could reasonably be perceived as alarming and irresponsible.”
Skordas said he believes Alder should be charged for shooting and injuring Gamboa. The attorney didn’t rule out a lawsuit, but said Gamboa wants to be careful not to be awarded money that otherwise would go to Ah Loo’s family.
Now that the investigation has ended, Gamboa said he plans to focus on making himself and his community better. “My intention is to keep doing the best that I can do,” he said.