Tributes flow for Samoan fashion designer killed at US protest
The man shot and killed while participating in the 'No Kings' protest in Salt Lake City was a successful fashion designer and former Project Runway contestant who devoted his life to celebrating artists from the Pacific Islands.
Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, 39, was killed when two men shot at a person brandishing a rifle at demonstrators, and one accidentally struck Ah Loo in the stomach, authorities said. Ah Loo later died at the hospital.
Salt Lake City police said it remained unclear today whether the individuals, one of whom identified himself as part of a 'peacekeeping" team for the protest, were brought in by the event organisers or acted on their own initiative. The man whose stray bullet fatally struck Ah Loo has not been identified publicly.
Detectives also do not yet know why Arturo Gamboa, 24, pointed a rifle at the crowd, but they charged him with murder and accused him of creating the dangerous situation that led to Ah Loo's death, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said Sunday (local time). Redd said police also were investigating the self-identified 'peacekeepers'.
Victim was a self-taught designer
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Ah Loo leaves behind a wife and two young children, according to a GoFundMe page for his family that raised over $100,000 (NZ$165,163) in 48 hours.
The self-taught fashion designer known to many as Afa devoted his life to doing 'good things for his neighbours and community," state Rep. Verona Mauga, a close friend, told The Associated Press. Their families were 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, his friend Benjamin Powell said.
Mauga, who was born in Hawaii, was at the 'No Kings" protest a few blocks from where Ah Loo was shot. The Democratic lawmaker said she only realised something was wrong when she saw the crowd scattering.
Peaceful protest turns deadly
The protest Saturday (local time) was one of hundreds in cities nationwide to counter President Donald Trump's military parade in Washington, which marked the Army's 250th anniversary and coincided with Trump's birthday.
There is no record in the Salt Lake City event permit indicating that armed security would be present, police said.
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Carl Moore, a 49-year-old indigenous advocate, was filming the protest when three gunshots rang out through the crowd estimated at 10,000 people. Moore said he observed confusion among police as protesters hid behind barriers and took shelter inside parking garages and nearby businesses.
'They don't know what they're looking for. They're just yelling like, 'What does he look like?'' Moore recalled.
Weaving culture and community through fashion
Mauga said Ah Loo would have been proud that his last moments were spent advocating for what he believed in.
'If Afa was going to go out any other way than natural causes, it would be standing up for marginalised and vulnerable communities and making sure that people had a voice,' she said.
Afa Ah Loo on season 17 of Project Runway (Source: Getty)
Powell, a hair salon innovator from Fiji, co-founded Create Pacific with Ah Loo shortly after they met four years ago. The organisation uplifts artists from the Pacific Islands, allowing a new generation to connect with their heritage.
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The two artists were friends with a rare creative synergy, Powell said. Ah Loo's vibrant work weaves traditional Pacific Island attire with modern silhouettes and design. He used flowers indigenous to Samoa as motifs, and frequently incorporated Tapa, a cloth traditionally made from tree bark in the Pacific Islands, into the garments he created.
Powell admired Ah Loo's attention to detail that made his work distinctive.
'You would know right away that it was an Ah Loo design,' he said.
Ah Loo was a contestant in 2019 on Bravo's Project Runway, a reality show where fashion designers compete in front of celebrity judges to create runway looks on tight deadlines.
Recently, he designed a garment for the star of the animated Disney movie Moana 2, Hawaiian actor Auliʻi Cravalho. According to an interview with Vogue, Cravalho wore the outfit inspired by the Hawaiian ʻahu ʻula — a feather cloak worn by ancient Hawaiian royalty — to the film's red carpet premiere in Hawaii last November.
A posthumous honour
In an Instagram post today, Cravalho said there were 'no words to hold the grief of losing' Ah Loo.
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'My deepest condolences, sympathies and Aloha to his family, and all who felt his impact," Cravalho wrote.
Powell and Ah Loo were working on an upcoming August fashion show when he died. Powell said the show will continue and will honour Ah Loo's unwavering commitment to his community.
Ah Loo also volunteered his time and resources to tailor clothing for people who needed help, often refusing to let people compensate him for his work, Mauga said. Sometimes, he would playfully criticise the outfits the state lawmaker wore on the campaign trail and invite her to his studio so he could make her new blazers or dresses.
'He was just very involved in whatever was going on in the community," Mauga said. 'He cared about making a difference.'
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