Salt Lake City (AP) – The man shot and killed While participating in the “No kings” protest In Salt Lake City was a successful fashion designer and former candidate “Project Runway”, who dedicated his life to celebrations of artists from the Pacific Islands.
Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, was killed on Saturday evening when two men shot on a person who supposedly swung a rifle with demonstrators, and one accidentally hit the stomach, the authorities said. Ah Loo later died in the hospital.
Salt Lake City’s police said it remained unclear on Monday whether the people, one of whom identified as part of a peace awakened team for the protest, were introduced by the organizers or acted on their own initiative.
The 24 -year -old Arturo Gamboa never shot the rifle that he showed on demonstrators, but the police arrested him for murder and said that he had created the dangerous situation that led to the death of AH LO. The police said they were investigating whether the man who shot in Gamboa – and fatally hit Ah Lo – to shoot his weapon. He was not publicly identified.
The victim was an autodidactic designer
Ah Loo leaves a woman and two little children, according to A Gofundme Page for his family, which has collected over 100,000 US dollars in 48 hours.
The autodidactic fashion designer, who was known to many as afa, devoted his life “good things for his neighbors and its community,” said the Rep. Verona Mauga, a close friend, to The Associated Press. Her families came from the small village of Lotopa in Samoa, she said.
Ah Loo was born in Samoa and has lived in Utah for about a decade, said his friend Benjamin Powell.
Mauga, who was born in Hawaii, was removed in the protest “No Kings” a few blocks of houses, where Ah Loo was shot. The democratic legislators said she only realized that something was wrong when she saw the crowd scattered.
Peaceful protest becomes fatal
The protest on Saturday was one of hundreds in cities nationwide to counter President Donald Trump Military parade in WashingtonWhat marked the 250th anniversary of the army and coincided with Trump’s birthday.
There are no records of the permission to organize Salt Lake City, which indicates that armed security would be available, the police said.
Carl Moore, a 49-year-old indigenous lawyer, filmed the protest when three shots were estimated by the crowd, which were valued on 10,000 people. Moore said he had observed confusion of the police as demonstrators who were hidden behind barriers and was looking for protection in parking garages and nearby companies.
“You don’t know what you are looking for. You just scream like ‘How does he look?’,” Moore recalled.
Weap of culture and community through fashion
Mauga said Ah Loo was proud that his last moments were spent to agree to what he believed.
“If Afa would go out differently than natural causes, it would work for marginalized and vulnerable communities and make sure that people had a voice,” she said.
Powell, a hairdressing salon innovator from Fiji, creates Pacific with AH Loo shortly after the meeting four years ago. The organization raises artists from the Pacific Islands and enables a new generation to connect with their legacy.
The two artists were friends with a rare creative synergy, said Powell. Ah Loos Living Work Wives the traditional Pacific island clothing with modern silhouettes and design. He used flowers that are native to Samoa, as motifs and in the clothes he created, which have traditionally been made from tree bark, Tapa, a cloth that was traditionally made from tree bark.
Powell admired Ah Loo’s attention to detail that made his work unmistakable.
“You would immediately know that it was an AH -LOO design,” he said.
AH LOO was a candidate on Bravo’s “Project Runway”, a reality show in 2019, in which fashion designers compete in front of Celebrity judges to create Runway looks on tight deadlines.
He recently designed a piece of clothing for the star of the animation Disney Film “Moana 2”, Hawaiian actor Auliʻi Cravalho. According to an interview with Vogue, Cravalho wore the outfit, which was inspired by the Hawaiian’ahu’ula – a feather slope by the old Hawaiian kings – last November in Hawaii.
A posthumous honor
In Instagram After Monday, Cravalho said that there are “no words to keep grief”. Ah loo.
“My deepest condolences, my sympathy and Aloha for his family and everyone who felt his effects,” wrote Cravalho.
Powell and Ah Loo worked on an coming August fashion show when he died. Powell said the show was continued and Ah Loos honored unshakable commitment to his community.
Ah Loo also volunteered for his time and resources to adapt clothing for people who needed help, and often refused to have people compensated for his work, said Mauga. Sometimes he playfully criticized the outfits that the state legislator wore on the campaign path and invited them to his studio so that he could make their new blazers or clothes.
“He was just very in what was going on in the community,” said Mauga. “He took care of a difference.”
