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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: August 15th, 2023

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  • I agree that Gamboa’s actions were at the very least inadvisable.

    Pointing out: he starts running after the peacekeeper fires upon him, not before.

    I don’t think we know what happened before that video started. Peacekeepers said they shouted at him to drop the weapon. Was he aware of their presence before they shot? What exactly was said?

    The eyewitness accounts I’ve seen so far in the news seem perhaps one-sided and I’ve been speculating that the police could have put some trust into the statements of the peacekeepers that they interviewed.

    Regarding his ski mask, SLC is a ski town. Many people own balaclavas, and I saw many people at the protest wearing them. I saw pictures of people at the Thursday protest wearing them as well. The organizers pointed out to be careful about taking pictures as some people might not want their identities revealed. Personally, I wore a mask.

    A guy in a mask with a gun looks scary, and I don’t think what happened is surprising. However, many of the right wing militias open carry while wearing masks. They do so because it is legal and is in fact their right. What I’m ultimately saying is, given the evidence available, if I were on some (fantasy) jury, I would so far be thinking “reasonable doubt”.





  • What was the shooting for?

    No idea

    Was that guy confirmed to be the same shooter?

    Not confirmed, but from what I can tell several eyewitnesses noticed something fishy with his backpack. The OP of the video has been posting on Reddit /r/saltlakecity and /r/publicfreakout, and there’s another video just beforehand where people are talking about the backpack.

    The events are very chaotic. What I can tell from eyewitnesses statements: the perp shot somebody (supposedly in the head), and someone in a yellow vest (yellow vests were either cops or security who was with the organizers) immediately drew a gun and shot the perp back (would explain why in some photos it looks like he’s bleeding, and cops / EMS are rendering medical aid). Eyewitnesses said after that, a plainclothes cop who was among the protesters also drew a gun too, but by then the perp had ran off.

    Meanwhile (can see from security footage posted by the news), police swarm in maybe a minute? after the shooting.

    Supposedly someone maybe saw the perp putting the rifle in his backpack, and when he went to hide among other protestors, the guy in the video grabbed his backpack to get it away from it, opened it, found the rifle, and called police over and pointed out the long hair guy. Pretty sure several people in the area the video was taken were also interviewed by police, and it was enough to arrest him.

    All we know now is that police have 3 people in custody and have been asking for more photos / videos of the incident.

    I was about a block away and I didn’t hear anything as I was focused on something else, but my coworker standing next to me heard at least one shot. Shortly after we saw a dozen people running, and then a couple dozen more and people yelled “active shooter”, and then we were running too. I ran a block, and shortly after that saw an unmarked cruiser fly in, and then a couple minutes later saw a van with riot police pull up back to the main area of the march. Riot police got out and just stood there basically, and eventually got the rest of the marching protestors moving away from the area with the shooting, and then got everyone to disperse. There was no violence between protestors and cops. After the shooting everyone seemed happy to disperse. Riot cops were really just helping to direct everyone away at that point.

    My speculation: I think the shooting was politically motivated, and the shooter intended to shoot many more people, but did not expect such a quick response to his actions. The people responding including yellow vest guy, and the guy who grabbed the backpack probably saved many lives.

    Edit: I saw there is now what looks like security cam footage of yellow vest guy shooting the perp

    Edit: News story just published corroborates some of what I saw eyewitnesses say. Unfortunately it’s confirmed that the victim died. Police are saying the victim was essentially collateral damage, shot by a yellow vest who was attempting to stop the man with the rifle and the backpack. Really sad all around.

    https://www.sltrib.com/news/2025/06/15/marcher-wounded-no-kings-protest/




  • Thank you for this. My wife left about a week ago. It blindsided me, but I’m hindsight I could have seen it. She’s been throwing herself into her work for the last 4 years. I felt the lack of love, but never had the tools to express my needs. Whenever we talked about it, we ended up fighting.

    In hindsight, if someone is not feeling love in a marriage, why would they stay?

    Like you, we also always thought we had the tools to work things out.

    I’ve learned now that in our relationship she has been anxiously attached – it makes sense now why I could never have the “rational” kind of conversation I wanted with her.

    Meanwhile I have been avoidant or possibly fearful-avoidant. What I thought of as “taking a break in an argument when things get heated” to go independently deal with my emotions must have been painful for her, and she would then chase me. End result: neither of us was able to regulate our emotions.

    I’ve was open to ENM in our relationship, but she was against it, so we never persued it. So it stings even more seeing signs that she’s been cheating on me. Though I guess, even in ENM, why would you keep seeing a partner whom you feel no love for anymore?

    In the last week I have been cramming attachment theory, Gottman, NVC, trying to have some idea of what the hell happened. Now I realize that if I don’t work on myself, I will bring all of my problems to any future relationship. I’m only at the very start of the journey, and every day is still painful – our relationship lasted 15 years, and that can’t be unwound quickly.