Utah cathedral opened its doors to shelter ‘No Kings’ rally protesters as shots rang out
Utah Bishop Phyllis Spiegel (left) at the front of a June 14 march in Salt Lake City, before shots marred the event and prompted Spiegel to open the doors of the Cathedral Church of St. Mark to provide refuge for marchers seeking safety. Photo: David Skorut/Diocese of Utah
[Episcopal News Service] Utah Bishop Phyllis Spiegel went from marcher to comforter as she helped the Cathedral Church of St. Mark serve as a refuge for people fleeing from a shooting that took place during Salt Lake City’s June 14 “No Kings” rally and march that killed a bystander, Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, a local fashion designer.
In an interview with Episcopal News Service, Spiegel said she had walked at the front of the 1-mile evening march wearing her clerical collar and a gun-violence awareness orange stole. Just past the route’s end, she stopped to wave to participants from the cathedral’s front steps as the Rev. Holly Huff, the cathedral’s associate priest, rang the church bells, drawing applause from the crowd.
When she heard gunshots coming from about a block away, near the back of the last group of marchers, she called out for the church doors to be opened and for people to come inside for shelter.
Two days later, in a June 16 statement, Spiegel offered prayers for the family of the victim, as well as for all those who were traumatized by the event or who now carry “guilt, sorrow or remorse.”
On Saturday evening, after she and other marchers heard gunshots, she drew on her experience with managing in a crisis, including as rector of a church eight miles from the site of the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech University, and started directing people inside the church. “I told them, ‘You’re safe. Come in. Look behind you – somebody behind you might need help.”
Some were scared that the shooter might follow them inside. She reassured them, saying, “They will go through me before they’d get in.”
Once inside, Spiegel offered prayers and tried to be a calming presence, especially for the children who were frightened. Even after an all-clear was issued about an hour later, some people didn’t want to leave.
A thank-you note was left by one of the people who sought shelter in the cathedral after the shooting. Photo: Jennifer Gaines McKenzie
One young girl was especially scared, so Spiegel removed from her keychain a plastic charm of Mary holding the infant Jesus and gave it to her, reassuring the child that just as Mary cared for Jesus when he was scared, Mary would help her, too.
As the last group of people were leaving the cathedral, a man ran up with a case of bottled water he’d purchased from a nearby store. “He said he thought people might be thirsty as they walked back to their cars,” Spiegel said.
“That’s why we have hope,” she said. “How do we find hope in this world? Just look, it’s all around us.”
Siegel said in her statement that those who took part in the march did so “to stand in solidarity with our immigrant and marginalized neighbors.”
Salt Lake City police estimated that 10,000 people took part in the march, prompting Spiegel to say, “There were 10,000 instances of hope. There was one instance of brokenness and anger and hatred and fear.”
Spiegel’s statement also said the day’s events would renew the church’s commitment to be present “in our streets, in our sanctuaries, and in our shared life, every time love, refuge and justice are needed.”
Ah Loo, the shooting victim, was a 39-year-old Samoan fashion designer who was a contestant in 2019 on the television show, “Project Runway” and who had his own company in Salt Lake City. He also had created gowns for celebrities, including “Moana” star Auli’i Cravalho.
An NBC news report said Ah Loo allegedly was struck by a bullet meant for another man and fired by a person serving as a “peacekeeper” for the event. Another bullet hit a man identified as Arturo Gamboa, who suffered minor injuries.
The news report also said one of the “peacekeepers” saw Gamboa with an assault-style weapon and ordered him to drop it. Instead, he ran into the crowd, holding the gun in what was described as a firing position. This prompted one of the as-yet unidentified “peacekeepers” to fire three shots, striking both Ah Loo and Gamboa.
March organizers issued a statement on June 16 in which they said they had a team of safety volunteers who had been selected “because of their military, first responder and other relevant de-escalation experience.” The statement acknowledged that the person who fired was a military veteran.
The Salt Lake Tribune noted that there is increasing scrutiny of these peacekeepers or safety volunteers, including the decision to fire into a crowd. Fox13 in Salt Lake City on June 17 said a video of the incident casts doubt on the claim that Gamboa had raised his weapon.
— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.
