- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
A man who was believed to be part of a peacekeeping team for the “No Kings” protest in Salt Lake City shot at a person who was brandishing a rifle at demonstrators, striking both the rifleman and a bystander who later died at the hospital, authorities said Sunday.
Police took the alleged rifleman, Arturo Gamboa, 24, into custody Saturday evening on a murder charge, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said at a Sunday news conference. The bystander was Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, a fashion designer from Samoa.
Detectives don’t yet know why Gamboa pulled out a rifle or ran from the peacekeepers, but they accused him of creating the dangerous situation that led to Ah Loo’s death. The Associated Press did not immediately find an attorney listed for Gamboa or contact information for his family in public records.
As he should.
Brandish a firearm in public, you are attempting to intimidate others, so you’ll get treated like the terrorist you are.
Be real careful applying the term “brandish”.
Utah is a constitutional carry state, meaning anyone 21+ who can legally own a firearm can carry it concealed or openly without a permit.
In my state, Minnesota, you have to take a class and qualify to carry a firearm and during the state approved training your told to follow these steps:
Isn’t this what the NRA wants? Sounds like a good guy with a gun stopped a potential mass shooting.
I know Arturo, he was there to support the protests. He was NOT going to do a mass shooting, as he has taken his gun to at least one other protest with no incident.
I just posted elsewhere, but in short, there’s no proof that Gamboa brandished a gun, and I’ve seen a video which looked like he was pointing the rifle downward. Not saying it can’t go the other way once more info comes out, but just like when you shouldn’t automatically take the police’s word when they shoot someone, we shouldn’t take the word of private security.
Pedantic arguments about the word brandish are pointless. He was walking through a crowd with a a rifle and wearing a mask. We don’t like it when the cops do it and shouldn’t tolerate it when anyone else does either. It’s too risky for us all and mass shootings are a real danger here.
Is it pedantic when it means the difference between life and death?
I’m not saying I agree with someone open carrying at a protest. I’m saying if that’s all they’re doing it’s not appropriate to charge them with murder, when if they were only open carrying it would be the security officer who overreacted and shot an innocent bystander to death.
A situation we could have avoided if there were stricter gun controls, but there aren’t.
I agree with you, but if you look at the video he’s not pointing it down holding it weakly, he’s got it pointed slightly below waist level basically ready to fire. It seems like he’s not ABOUT to fire, but he’s in a combat stance with the rifle and his hand position being ready and shooting in less than a second. If you hadn’t been looking at him the whole time I could easily see someone thinking he had just raised his weapon and was about to shoot.
That’s not the law, or reality in America. It’s a regular occurrence at certain protests for people to open carry weapons. Not saying I would do it, but it’s not sufficient cause to shoot someone.
Open carry and brandish have distinct legal definitions.
This gif isn’t loading on my phone, but supposedly it’s the same as a video I had seen earlier - it shows Gamboa walking towards the street but his rifle is pointed down. It also shows the yellow vested people pointing their guns toward him. If the gif also doesn’t work for you, scroll further up in the thread to at least see screenshots. The op of that thread, Chad Loder, has been commenting on this shooting a fair amount. https://bsky.app/profile/nope-notnow.bsky.social/post/3lrp7xsx3vs22
Oh to be clear I wasn’t arguing the reality, but brandishing is what he’s accused of and that’s legally very different from open carrying.
Also it wasn’t open carried to the protest, it was retrieved mid protest from a hidden location
This gif isn’t loading on my phone, but supposedly it’s the same as a video I had seen earlier - it shows Gamboa walking towards the street but his rifle is pointed down. It also shows the yellow vested people pointing their guns toward him. If the gif also doesn’t work for you, scroll further up in the thread to at least see screenshots. The op of that thread, Chad Loder, has been commenting on this shooting a fair amount. https://bsky.app/profile/nope-notnow.bsky.social/post/3lrp7xsx3vs22
Brandishing a weapon is not the same as carrying it. Brandishing is what you do when moving the firearm in a way that indicates you are threatening to shoot. In the worst case, it involves pointing the firearm at someone.
If someone purposely points a firearm at you, you have every right to fire in self defence. At least those were the rules of engagement we were taught regarding interactions with civilians at home when I was in the army.
The only people brandishing in the video are the self-described “peacekeepers” who are aiming their pistols into the crowd. The open-carrier isn’t even looking their way and appears just as surprised as everyone else when one of these peacekeepers starts blasting (with minimal awareness or concern for whomever else was downrange).
This gif isn’t loading on my phone, but supposedly it’s the same as a video I had seen earlier - it shows Gamboa walking towards the street but his rifle is pointed down. It also shows the yellow vested people pointing their guns toward him. If the gif also doesn’t work for you, scroll further up in the thread to at least see screenshots. The op of that thread, Chad Loder, has been commenting on this shooting a fair amount. https://bsky.app/profile/nope-notnow.bsky.social/post/3lrp7xsx3vs22
I was commenting on the general situation of “are you justified in treating someone brandishing a weapon as a lethal threat?”, not the specifics of this situation. I haven’t seen the video, so won’t comment on whether this person specifically was brandishing or not.