A fashion designer who competed on “Project Runway” and who helped style celebrities for the red carpet was shot to death on Saturday during a “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration in Salt Lake City, the police said.
The authorities identified the designer, Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, as a bystander who was killed during a confrontation between two armed volunteers who were assisting with crowd control at the protest and a man who was carrying an AR-15-style rifle and was dressed in all black.
The volunteers drew their guns after the armed man removed the rifle from his backpack and began running toward the crowd, holding his weapon in a “firing position,” the police said.
One of them fired three times, wounding the gunman and also striking Mr. Ah Loo, who was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Tributes to Mr. Ah Loo, who appeared on Season 17 of “Project Runway” in 2019 and who lived in Utah with his wife and two children, poured in after the shooting.
Auli’i Cravalho, a native Hawaiian, who was the voice of the heroine in the Walt Disney animated film “Moana,” noted that she wore Mr. Ah Loo’s custom designs to the world premiere of “Moana 2” in 2024.
“There are no words to hold the grief of losing @afa.ahloo,” she wrote on Instagram of Mr. Ah Loo, who was born in Samoa and was known as Afa. “Afa’s creations,” she added, “are and remain thoughtful, elegant and powerful portrayals of Pacific culture.”
Mr. Ah Loo was 32 when he appeared on “Project Runway,” in which he celebrated his Pacific Islander heritage.
“Who would have thought that this island boy, growing up in Samoa in a hut, would design something that was in L.A, Fashion Week, Australian Fashion Week and in Buckingham Palace?” Mr. Ah Loo said in that season’s first episode.
That episode featured a dress Mr. Ah Loo designed for the Commonwealth Fashion Exchange in 2018 that was on display at Buckingham Palace. Mr. Ah Loo, who was representing Samoa, appeared on four episodes that season but did not win.
According to an affidavit, the police responded to reports of gunfire at the protest just before 8 p.m. local time. Officers found Mr. Ah Loo with a gunshot wound, and emergency medical workers administered aid.
The police arrested the man with the rifle, who was identified as Arturo Gamboa, 24, and charged him with murder, Chief Brian Redd of the Salt Lake City Police Department said at a news conference on Sunday.
Chief Redd called the shooting “sudden and alarming.”
“No one should fear coming to a peaceful and lawful demonstration in our city,” he said.
The police also detained two other people, who were wearing “high-visibility neon vests” and who were “possibly part of the event’s peacekeeping team,” Chief Redd said.
They were not publicly identified and it was not clear whether either would face charges. Chief Redd said that the one who fired the shots was cooperating with investigators.
The security volunteers told the police that they monitored Mr. Gamboa after he moved away from the crowd and ducked behind a wall. One of them said he saw Mr. Gamboa take the rifle out of his backpack and “begin to manipulate it,” according to the affidavit.
The security workers took out their guns and yelled to Mr. Gamboa to drop his weapon. Witnesses told the police that Mr. Gamboa ran toward the crowd of demonstrators, according to the affidavit.
Mr. Gamboa “did not fire a shot,” Chief Redd said at the news conference. According to the affidavit, he acted in a manner that showed “a depraved indifference to human life,” and knowingly engaged in conduct that created “a grave risk of death” to Mr. Ah Loo, and thereby caused Mr. Ah Loo’s death.
In addition to the rifle, the police recovered a gas mask and a backpack, according to the affidavit.
Chief Redd said that Mr. Gamboa, who wore a black mask to the protest, had no criminal history. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.
Sarah Parker, a national coordinator with the 50501 Movement, described the event’s “peacekeepers” as volunteers who helped direct the march and were responsible for keeping attendees safe. (The group’s name reflects its goal of holding at least 50 protests against the Trump administration in 50 states, united under one movement.)
There were an estimated 15 to 20 such volunteers at the protest in Salt Lake City, Ms. Parker said. It was not clear whether all of them were armed.
Eunic Epstein-Ortiz, a national spokeswoman for “No Kings,” the name of the nationwide protests against the Trump administration, condemned the violence in Salt Lake City.
“This movement is rooted in nonviolence, dignity and justice — and we grieve any loss of life or injury,” Ms. Epstein-Ortiz said.
Utah does not regulate how guns are carried in public, according to research from Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control group.
Chief Redd said the police were investigating the training and preparation standards that were required of people who were working at the event.
The authorities were aware that volunteers were helping with crowd control at the protest, but it was unclear whether officers knew they were carrying concealed firearms, said Brent Weisberg, a spokesman for the Salt Lake City Police Department.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
Detectives are still investigating “why Gamboa pulled out his rifle and began to manipulate it” and “why he ran from the peacekeepers when they confronted him,” the police said in a statement.
Chief Redd described the protest on Saturday in Salt Lake City as peaceful. “This came out of nowhere,” he said of the shooting.
The “No Kings” rallies were planned to coincide with a military parade in Washington, D.C., celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary on Saturday, which was also President Trump’s 79th birthday.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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