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.
This is a great discussion with a lot different perspectives. However, I’ve done more comment removals and bans on this post than in all my communities since I started them.
Please disagree respectfully. Strong opinions are welcome, rudeness and insults are not.
Thanks for engaging, it’s nice to see this place gaining popularity.
TFW you remember all the commenters quick to agree with the police who were treating Gamboa as almost certainly a would-be mass-shooter and treating the actual shooter who killed a dad of two young kids as a hero who had an unlucky shot which killed a bystander as just an unfortunate cost of safety.
People who were like “wtf you guys have this ass-backwards” were downvoted and chastised.
Nice!
Good to see Gamboa is free, and the “security volunteer” is being tried. Liberals - listen up: Just because someone has a fancy title, doesn’t absolve them of wrong doing.
Liberals listen up: you should get used to guns; peaceful protests probably aren’t going to fix a fucking thing. Real leftist violence, or at least the threat of it, is what is going to possibly correct this ship.
And if the anti-Trump crowd could stop broadcasting “Peace at all costs” and start growling a bit, Republicans wouldn’t be brazenly pushing through 50% of Project 2025 in the first year of Trump’s term. We probably didn’t even need to fire a shot… except now, where Republicans Know we aren’t going to do shit. Now with the surveillance networks like Flock, I doubt this administration will show any hesitation ever again.
Instead we get people chuckling “Oh I hope it won’t be that long” and going on their day… It doesn’t have to be, but it will be if you let it.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a great speaker; but it was the Black Panthers and the rioters that got the Civil Rights Act passed. Non-violence has a place, but it can’t be the whole picture. Especially when people are being tortured in Alligator Auschwitz.
You believe the security person is guilty of wrongdoing?
If you see someone setting up an AR-15 at a large gathering shouldn’t you be suspicious of that person. I don’t know the specifics but I’d maybe want to take that dude out before they start killing innocent people.
Maybe nobody is at fault here, well America’s love of weapons is at fault.
I don’t know the specifics but I’d maybe want to take that dude out before they start killing innocent people.
Ah so you’re just like the security guard who killed a innocent dad.
Removed by mod
Yeah, you should be suspicious. That’s why you go investigate what’s going on and don’t just shoot a dude, or rather shoot at a person, miss them then proceed to murder an innocent man because your aim is shit.
You believe the security person is guilty of wrongdoing?
yes.
Yes absolutely Alder (the “security volunteer”) was wrong and wholly responsible for his actions.
He fired his weapon and killed a person. He is responsible for that action.
Anyone open carrying needs to understand that someone else might decide they need to stop a mass shooter before you open fire.
Alder took on a responsibility for security and executed that responsibility. Gamboa didn’t do anything illegal but he has blood on his hands.
Alder executed someone alright.
Lesson is, make it count fellas. If you’re gonna carry to these events, at least get yours in.
I think the lesson here is that you should read the article before commenting.
I read the blurb here, im not leaving unnecessary digital trails around the internet by pinging random political articles.
Dude was held without bail for 5 days, longer than the guy who actually fired a weapon an shot someone.
Please enlighten me if you think Im missing critical information on how to live my life, friend.
Here is some critical information you appear to be missing:
- The blurb can be misleading and often leaves out important details.
2).Your IP address visiting a news article is not a “digital trail” you need to concern yourself with.
You work for an intelligence agency and can confirm that? I assume my isp logs everything I do. Because if someone asks them to, they likely will.
Is that the lesson? What do you mean “at least get yours in”?
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.
