- Salt Lake police handed their investigation into the No Kings protest shooting case to the district attorney's office.
- Police did not make any recommendations about criminal charges, leaving that decision to prosecutors.
- A suspected gunman's attorney says there is no evidence to support a murder charge against his client.
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake police have turned their investigation into a fatal shooting at the June No Kings protest over to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
But while the detectives typically either recommend certain charges be filed or not filed in cases they screen with the district attorney, "In this particular case, the Salt Lake City Police Department did not offer a charging recommendation but instead presented our initial investigative findings to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office for review and determination," the department said Wednesday.
Police spokesman Brent Weisberg said their investigation was for the entire event and did not focus only on the actions of any single individual. By not making any recommendations, he said that means the department is not making an opinion either way about whether any criminal charges should be filed.
"While there are certain instances where we may provide input, charging decisions are ultimately made by the prosecuting attorney," the department said.
On June 14, Arturo Gamboa, 24, was accused of carrying a rifle during the No Kings protest in downtown Salt Lake City as an estimated 10,000 people marched on State Street. Two men who police say described themselves as part of a "peacekeeping" group for the rally spotted Gamboa near 151 S. State. One of the men says he watched Gamboa move away from the main crowd to a secluded area behind a wall.
"The peacekeepers found this behavior to be suspicious and kept Arturo in view. One of the peacekeepers observed Arturo remove an AR-15 style rifle from a backpack he was carrying. He observed Arturo begin to manipulate the rifle, and they called out to him to drop the gun after drawing their own firearms. Arturo then lifted the rifle, and according to witnesses he began to run toward the large crowd gathered on State Street holding the rifle in a firing position," a police booking affidavit states.
Police say Gamboa did not fire a shot during the confrontation with the volunteers, and his attorney said there is no evidence that he pointed the gun at anyone. But one of those two men who confronted him fired three rounds from his own handgun and hit and injured Gamboa, and also hit and killed an innocent bystander, 39-year-old Arthur Folasa "Afa" Ah Loo.
Gamboa was originally arrested for investigation of murder. But after police reviewed the case with the district attorney's office on June 20, a judge ordered Gamboa released from the Salt Lake County Jail when the district attorney's office announced "it will be unable to make an informed decision as to whether charges against Mr. Gamboa will be filed or declined" before the time limit for holding Gamboa in jail without filing of criminal charges had expired.
After District Attorney Sim Gill's office requested that police collect additional information in the case, a second screening was held on July 2. Again, detectives were asked to return with additional evidence.
"As of this moment, Salt Lake City Police Department has formally presented the case to our office, but the investigation is not complete. As with many investigations referred to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, there is follow-up work to be done. This continues to be an open case without any formal conclusions at this stage of the proceedings," Gill said in a prepared statement Wednesday.
"The second presentation by Salt Lake City Police Department was a more comprehensive presentation of the evidence, at which time investigative materials were turned over to our office. Since then, there has been follow-up work requested of detectives as a result of our prosecutors reviewing the evidence given to our office at the July 2 presentation."
Salt Lake police are "responsible for collecting and analyzing all relevant investigative material, including forensic evidence, video footage, witness statements and other pertinent information," the department said without going into detail about what kind of evidence had already been collected.
"There is no substantial evidence to support Mr. Gamboa's murder charge as Mr. Gamboa did not commit murder," his attorney Greg Skordas said after filing a motion to have his client released from custody in June. "As previously discussed, there is ample information already made public that did not show Mr. Gamboa pointing his rifle at anyone, but only showed other individuals firing guns at Mr. Gamboa."
