‘I was hoping to get more answers’ — SLCPD briefs Utah lawmakers on deadly ‘No Kings’ protest shooting

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Salt Lake City police briefed Utah lawmakers on their investigation into the deadly shooting that occurred at the ‘No Kings’ protest on Saturday.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd briefed lawmakers behind closed doors on Wednesday, and lawmakers asked him if the ‘peacekeepers’ who fired shots during the protests coordinated with police. Again, Redd said that they did not.

“To be honest, I was hoping to get more answers,” Speaker of the House Mike Shultz told ABC4.com.

Utah Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla said that police were telling lawmakers “where they were at.”

Utah 50501, one of the protest organizers, said that the unnamed ‘peacekeeper’ was a safety volunteer and a military veteran. They say he took action, believing that there was an imminent threat to protestors after spotting 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa with a gun.

A stray bullet hit and killed 39-year-old bystander Afa Ah Loo, and Gamboa was arrested following the shooting.

Sen. Escamilla told ABC4.com that police are very careful not to say anything until they know what happened.

“I know Chief Redd personally, and with his experience with the highway patrol, and I’ve seen his work, I’m confident he’ll get us to the place where they’re going to answer all the questions that we have,” Escamilla said.

“I’m a hundred percent confident in Salt Lake City’s police department, I really am,” Speaker Shultz said. “I believe that it will be treated fairly, they’ll do the proper investigation, and the answers that a lot of us have.”

It seems that the questions lawmakers and the public have will have to wait until the investigation is over.