Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, a 39-year-old former contestant on the fashion design competition series Project Runway, died Saturday after being struck by gunfire while attending a “No Kings” demonstration in downtown Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City Police confirmed his death and provided details of what transpired by referring to Ah Loo as an “innocent bystander” who was not the intended target of the gunfire. “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the 39-year-old man who was killed and with the many community members who were impacted by this traumatic incident,” Salt Lake City Police Department chief Brian Redd said in a statement, adding that the response of the officers and detectives was “fast, brave and highly coordinated” when the shooting broke out.
Per the police, Ah Loo was among the estimated 10,000 participants of a permitted demonstration that took place in Salt Lake to protest President Donald Trump and his policies on the occasion of his 79th birthday and amid a wave of “No Kings” marches from coast to coast. Around 7:56 p.m. local time, a SLCPD sergeant reported hearing gunfire at 151 South State Street. Gunfire led to panic as hundreds “ran for safety” by hiding in parking garages and nearby businesses.
When officers moved to secure the scene, they found a man, Ah Loo, suffering from gunshot wounds. Two of those officers, identified as SLCPD SWAT team members that double as paramedics, provided emergency care. Ah Loo was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries.
As for how the gunfire broke out, per the police and multiple media reports, the event utilized a “peacekeeping team,” some of whom were armed with handguns and wearing high-visibility neon green vests. Two of the peacekeepers reportedly spotted a suspicious man in the crowd and watched him move behind a wall in a secluded area. The peacekeepers claim they saw the man, later identified as 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa, take an AR-15-style rifle out of a backpack.
Per SLCPD, the peacekeepers demanded Gamboa drop the weapon, but he allegedly lifted the rifle and ran toward a crowd of people on State Street. That’s when one of the peacekeepers fired three rounds. One round struck Ah Loo and another struck Gamboa, who was later discovered by police “crouching among a group of people with a gunshot wound.” Per police, he was dressed in all-black clothing and wearing a black mask. Gamboa was taken to the hospital and later booked on a murder charge at the Salt Lake County metro jail.
Tributes for Ah Loo, known to friends and loved ones as “Afa,” have poured in since his tragic death. He leaves behind a wife, Laura, and their two children, Vera and Isaac. A GoFundMe organized in the wake of his murder, which at press time had raised $208,000 from a $370,000 goal, describes Ah Loo as a “proud Samoan” who was deeply connected to his culture and community. He worked closely with the Creative Pacific nonprofit, which “celebrates culture, creativity and innovation” of Pacific Islanders by mounting an event that corralled designers, artists and industry professionals from various backgrounds.
Utah representative Verona Mauga, a Democrat from Salt Lake County, told Utah’s KSL TV 5 that she had been with Ah Loo earlier in the night at Pioneer Park before the demonstrators marched into downtown. “Afa is a person who believed in equity and equality for all people and all communities. He believed that everyone was deserving of basic human rights. And that’s why he was there,” Mauga told the outlet. “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.”
She praised his work as a fashion designer and his distinction as the first Samoan on Project Runway. “That was a big deal, to have someone of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander heritage be able to break into the fashion industry, and he’s done amazing work for fabulous people.”
He continued to run his own brand, Afa Ah Loo, which, according to its website, also offered online sewing courses and sewing workshops. Moana star Auli’i Cravalho shared a custom look that Ah Loo created for her for the world premiere of Moana 2. “This island girl is on cloud nine,” she posted in November 2024. He also recently dressed guests at the Gold House Gala in Los Angeles.
