- 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.
They chose to charge only one of the two people directly involved, and that’s the problem.
The Lawyers for the county/state/nation are in charge of deciding if there is enough evidence for an arrest. The charges for the man with the rifle are fairly straightforward. If you are committing a crime and someone dies, even if you don’t directly kill them, it is murder. Creating a panic in a crowd is a crime. All they need to prove in that case is he created a panic, and someone died because of it. They don’t need to prove intent to kill, just to scare the crowd.
For the man who pulled the trigger, it will probably be a lesser charge. He clearly didn’t intend to kill a bystander. So, they need time to collect evidence and to decide what charge to bring. That can actually take a while, and they might not feel that they can win a trial. In that case he would not be charged. It’s way more complicated in his case.
No, it would be a problem to charge someone for a crime when they were acting in defense of others. The guy with the AR is responsible for the death of the bystander, not the guy who stopped him.
Also, police don’t charge people with crimes.