By JESSE BEDAYN and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM, Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A military veteran who was trying to stop an alleged gunman and inadvertently shot and killed a demonstrator at a Salt Lake City “No Kings” rally was a “safety volunteer” for the demonstration, according to police and organizers.

The safety volunteer fired three rounds at Arturo Gamboa, 24, who had allegedly brandish a rifle at the crowd, hitting both Gamboa and a protester on Saturday, police said.

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Gamboa never shot the rifle, but was arrested on a murder charge and accused of creating the dangerous situation Saturday that led to the death of protester Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, police said. It’s still unclear what Gamboa intended to do with the rifle.

The investigation includes whether the man who shot Gamboa and Ah Loo was justified in firing his gun, the Salt Lake City Police Department said Monday. Police haven’t identified the veteran publicly, but protest organizers said late Monday that he was part of a “safety team” meant to help maintain order.

Police said that the permit for the protest did not specify that there would be armed security, and that the role and responsibilities of event staff were being investigated.

The protest of some 10,000 was otherwise peaceful.

Here’s what is known so far about the shooting:

How did the shooting unfold?

Hundreds of protesters were marching through downtown Salt Lake City on Saturday when, around 8 p.m., the veteran and another man said they spotted Gamboa, who was wearing all black clothing, move behind a wall and withdraw a rifle from a backpack, according to a news release from police.

The two men drew their handguns and ordered Gamboa to drop the rifle, but witnesses said he instead moved toward the crowd and held his rifle in a “firing position,” according to police.

The safety volunteer shot three rounds, hitting Gamboa and Ah Loo. Gamboa’s wound was relatively minor and he was arrested nearby by police, who found a rifle, gas mask and backpack in the area.

Ah Loo died after being taken to a hospital.

Police said they don’t yet know why Gamboa carried a rifle or disobeyed the orders from the two men. The Associated Press could not immediately find attorney listed for Gamboa or contact information for his family in public records.

Who was the man who fired at Gamboa?

The Utah chapter of 50501 Movement, which helped organize the “No Kings” protest, said in a statement late Monday that the man who confronted Gamboa was a “safety volunteer” and a military veteran. The group did not give further details on the person’s training or explain why he was armed.

“Our team of safety volunteers, who have been selected because of their military, first responder, and other relevant de-escalation experience, believed there was an imminent threat to the protestors and took action,” the group said in a statement.

For the “No Kings” protests, all attendees, including those in safety roles, are asked not to bring weapons, said Sarah Parker, a national coordinator for 50501 Movement.

Who was the protester who was killed?

Ah Loo was a successful fashion designer and former “Project Runway” contestant who devoted his life to celebrating artists from the Pacific Islands.

This undated photo shows Utah State Rep. Verona Mauga and Arthur Afa Ah Loo, known to many as Afa. (Mauga via AP)

Benjamin Powell, a friend of Ah Loo’s, said the designer was born in Samoa but lived in Utah for about a decade.

Ah Loo, who was a self-taught designer known to many as Afa, devoted his life to doing “good things for his neighbors 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.

The 39-year-old leaves behind a wife and two young children, according to a GoFundMe page for his family.

Powell said he and Ah Loo were working on an upcoming August fashion show, which Powell said will now honor Ah Loo’s unwavering commitment to his community.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Alex Padilla on Tuesday encouraged Americans to peacefully protest against President Donald Trump’s administration and said it’s “it’s time to wake up” in his first extended remarks in the Senate since he was forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles last week as he tried to speak up about immigration raids.

In emotional remarks on Tuesday, Padilla, a California Democrat, recounted the altercation, in which security forced him out of the room and onto the ground after he tried to ask Noem a question. Padilla said that even though he was accompanied by a National Guardsman and an FBI agent, “I was pushed and pulled, struggled to maintain my balance” and ended up flat on his chest on the floor.

“I was handcuffed and marched down a hallway repeatedly asking, ‘Why I am being detained?’” Padilla said as several of his colleagues from both major political parties sat in their chairs and listened. “Not once did they tell me why.”

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., makes a brief statement to the media after leaving the Federal Building after he was forcibly removed from a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (David Crane/The Orange County Register via AP)

He said he wondered in the moment if he was being arrested — he wasn’t — and, if he was, what the city and his family would think.

“What will a city already on edge from being militarized think when they see their U.S. senator being handcuffed for just trying to ask a question?” Padilla said.

In a statement afterward, the Department of Homeland Security said that Padilla “chose disrespectful political theater” and that the Secret Service “thought he was an attacker.” The statement claimed erroneously that Padilla did not identify himself — he did, as he was being pushed from the room.

“Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands,” the statement said, adding that officers acted appropriately.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., speaks to media after leaving the Federal Building after he was forcibly removed from a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (David Crane/The Orange County Register via AP)

Padilla said he attended the press conference amid the immigration raids that have led to protests in California and around the country and as the Republican president sent military troops to his state. He said he spoke up after he heard Noem say that they wanted to “liberate” Los Angeles from Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats.

“Let that fundamentally un-American mission statement sink in,” Padilla said.

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Padilla and his angry Democratic colleagues have framed the episode as intimidation by the Trump administration, especially as it came days after Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted on federal charges alleging she assaulted and interfered with immigration officers outside a detention center in New Jersey while Newark’s Democratic mayor, Ras Baraka, was being arrested after he tried to join a congressional oversight visit at the facility.

Padilla encouraged Americans to speak out.

“No one is coming to save us but us,” Padilla said. “And we know that the cameras are not in every corner of the country. But if this administration is this afraid of just one senator with a question, colleagues, imagine what the voices of tens of millions of Americans peacefully protesting can do.”

MIAMI (AP) — A hurricane warning was issued Tuesday for a portion of southern Mexico as Tropical Storm Erick gained strength in the Pacific Ocean, forecasters said.

The National Hurricane Center said Erick was expected to rapidly intensify and become a hurricane by late Tuesday or early Wednesday. The cyclone was centered about 265 miles southeast of Puerto Ángel, Mexico, on Tuesday morning.

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The tropical storm had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, the Miami-based center said. It was moving west-northwest at 9 mph and forecast to approach the coast by late Wednesday.

A hurricane warning was in effect from Puerto Ángel to Punta Maldonado in coastal southern Mexico. The hurricane watch stretches west of Punta Maldonado to Acapulco and east of Puerto Ángel to Bahías de Huatulco. A tropical storm watch was posted east of Puerto Ángel to Salina Cruz.

A hurricane warning means hurricane conditions are expected in the area, and preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion, according to the NHC advisory.

Heavy rainfall up to 20 inches was forecast for parts of Oaxaca and Guerrero with lighter amounts in Chiapas, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco states.

The rainfall may produce flooding and mudslides, the center said, and storm surge could produce coastal flooding.

By Hunter Boyce, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Fluoride — it’s in your toothpaste, your drinking water and now the occasional legislative bill. Two U.S. states have already decided to stop adding it to their water supplies — a trend concerning local dental experts.

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Now, a new study has discovered what banning the mineral on a larger scale could mean for children and their parents. The results? Billions in added dental bills and millions of new cavities. It’s one major toothache of a projection.

What would happen if the U.S. banned fluoride?

Researchers out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard School of Dental Medicine have completed a projection of what a nationwide fluoride ban could cost Americans in both dollars and tooth decay. The researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the only nationwide survey to include oral health data from clinical examinations of U.S. adults and children.

Having analyzed survey data featuring 8,484 children, they predicted such a ban would increase dental costs across the U.S. by $9.8 billion within the first five years. According to Lending Tree, it already costs Georgia parents an average $201,058 to raise a single child from an infant to 18 years old. For every cavity that child gets, you can add another average $191 to the equation. And, in this projection, kids will be getting significantly more cavities.

Within the first five years of a nationwide fluoride ban, researchers estimate there would be 25.4 million more cavities reported in children. That represents about a 7.5% uptick in cases. A decade into having fluoride-free drinking water, however, those numbers could increase to $19.4 billion in additional costs and 53.8 million in cavities.

What would happen if fluoridation came to an end in Georgia? A local dentist previously spoke to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in April, issuing a grim warning.

“It will be amazing for our business,” said Sandy Springs dentist Cary Goldstein. “We will have so much work on our hands. We’ve almost put ourselves out of business because fluoride keeps decay down.”

According to the expert, it’s a matter of preventing more major oral health issues down the road. “That small cavity in childhood leads to serious dental work in adulthood,” he later said. “It’s like cancer — we are trying to prevent it before it happens.”

It’s been 80 years since Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first U.S. city to fluoridate its drinking water. By 1980, half the U.S. population was drinking water with fluoride. The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls it “a cornerstone strategy for prevention of cavities in the U.S.” that is “a practical, cost-effective, and equitable way for communities to improve their residents’ oral health regardless of age, education, or income.”

It begs the question: Why do some people now want to ban it from drinking water?

Just last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new measure prohibiting the addition of fluoride to the state’s drinking water. He’s not the first governor to do it, either. Utah became the first state to ever ban fluoride in public drinking water, with all statewide water systems having ceased fluoridation on May 7.

“We have other ways where people can get access to fluoride,” DeSantis said at a public event, as reported by The Associated Press. “When you do this in the water supply, you’re taking away a choice of someone who may not want to have overexposure to fluoride.”

Fluoride overexposure has become an increasingly common talking point in government. In April, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who has referred to fluoride as a “dangerous neurotoxin” — announced plans to tell the CDC to stop recommending fluoridation nationwide.

Fluoride overexposure can lead to fluorosis — causing tooth discoloration. A 2019 review of cross-sectional studies concluded that it can potentially become neurotoxic to young children at high doses, leading to worsened cognitive function. Those doses averaged around 1 mg/L.

However, the CDC only recommends a maximum 0.7 mg/L fluoride concentration in drinking water — 30% less than the high doses observed in the study review. A 2020 study of over 38,000 wells across the U.S. determined that roughly 87% of all tested groundwater was below 0.7 mg/L in fluoride concentration. According to the new study, the current fluoride concentration recommendation is a safe one.

“These findings suggest that, despite the potential harms of excessive fluoride exposure, fluoridation at safe levels offers both individual and societal benefits that would be at risk,” the study concluded.

©2025 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.