The volunteer, tasked with security for the march and later identified as Matt Alder, saw Gamboa assembling a legally owned, legally carried AR-15-style rifle near the march in downtown Salt Lake City on June 14. Alarmed, Alder called for another volunteer security guard before drawing a concealed handgun. As Gamboa tried to rejoin the march, Alder opened fire, hitting Gamboa and killing Ah Loo.
Immediately after the shooting, police arrested Gamboa on a murder charge. The arresting officer claimed that Gamboa’s actions had created the situation that caused Alder to fear for his life and the lives of others, prompting Alder to open fire.
As a result Gamboa was blamed for Ah Loo’s death for having “acted under circumstances that showed a depraved indifference to human life, knowingly engag[ing] in conduct that created a grave risk of death and ultimately caused the death of an innocent community member,” according to a police statement.
Gamboa was held without bail for five days under suspicion of committing a violent felony. Police briefly detained Alder but did not take him into custody.
I was being sarcastic. A guy open carrying, following the law, gets shot at, and he’s characterized as a murderer. A guy shoots at someone following the law, kills someone else, and he’s sleeping peacefully at home tonight.
It makes it appear that protesting is less acceptable than violence. Similar story with Kyle Rittenhouse. Shooting your firearm is considered proof that you feared for your life, and are therefore justified.
I think the “lesson” here is, if you’re going to participate in a “peaceful protest”…leave your fucking guns at home.
All you’re doing is putting everyone around you in danger…from law enforcement on the one side, that’s itching for an excuse to escalate violence against protesters…to private security in the other, that’s itching to shoot at counter protesters looking to start trouble.
No, either Americans have the right to wield guns, in which case y’all need to just accept that and realize that assembling a gun during a protest is legal and therefore not suspicious Or, y’all need to realize that your gun laws and culture are incompatible with modern society, and do something to change them.
There’s a massive difference between a "protest’, and an armed confrontation with police. One is a display of solidarity in the face of violence…and the other is simply asking for it.
Thats right. May as well bring you own zip ties and cuff yourself and sit on the curb too. /s
Protesting is not a safe activity.
You’ve obviously never been involved in organizing. The safety of the protesters is always your number one concern. Cops are already dialed up to maximum, looking for any excuse to use crowd control tactics against us. You bringing a gun into that scenario makes you a convenient excuse for them to use violence against the rest of us. And if that’s the case…don’t come. All you’re doing is endangering everyone else, who’s actually there to protest.
I dont own a firearm. And I wouldn’t spend time organizing a protest, but to each their own.
My point was that the police seem to be sending mixed signals about what’s acceptable behavior, making it more likely someone would no longer choose to accept their authority, and could result in violence. Like what you’re saying my lonely words on a mostly quiet social platform would do.
My words here have 0 effect compared to reported violence in the news, just chill dude.
Shouldn’t the lesson here be not to hire trigger happy security guards who murder people because of a hunch? That really seems like the better lesson. Shocked that’s not what you took away from it.
Jesus, yes…that too. Why anyone would have thought having armed security there was a good idea, is beyond me. At the end of the day, they charged the right person.
My point is, the whole situation should have never happened in the first place. Conditions like that…adding a gun to the equation only means more potential for problems. And in this case, it resulted in someone else getting killed.
Oh! I sort of thought that was what you meant but wasn’t sure if you were being sarcastic lol - thanks for clarifying 😅
But the shooter will face charges, as per the headline, and the man legally open carrying will not.
The lesson here is that gun laws are completely fucked. I can understand that when a security guard sees a guy assembling a weapon and then joins a protest, that the security guard may very well suspect that the guy assembling the weapon is a threat.
The “correct” response from security would be to go to the weapon assembler and detain them (preferably) before the weapon is assembled - not wait until the “threat” is in a crowd of people and then open fire.
The “security volunteer”, a title which means nothing, had a gun. Why should he be allowed to detain an individual who also has a gun for the sole reason of them having a gun?
Missing the forest for the trees…