NEW YORK — New York is stepping up police presence and anti-gun demonstrations in the wake of a deadly shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado.
Five people were killed and more than a dozen injured when a gunman reportedly entered the Q Club in Colorado Springs just before midnight Saturday and opened fire, local officials said. The 22-year-old suspected of shooting him has been arrested.
Following the shooting, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that state police would increase surveillance and protection of “communities at risk of hate crimes.” The Democrat said the decision follows the shooting, as does the arrest. the weekend of two men behind the alleged plan for an attack on the city’s Jewish community.
“Here in New York we will not tolerate violence or intolerance towards any community. We are united against hate, today and every day,” Hochul said in a statement.
His office said the State Police’s Counterterrorism Intelligence Unit would be contacting New York’s LGBTQ+ communities, as well as synagogues and other Jewish community spaces.
Meanwhile, community advocates also made plans to meet at the Stonewall Inn.
“Waking up to this is bringing back memories of June 12, 2016 and Pulse. Our LGBTQIA2S+ communities continue to be scapegoats and proxies for weak-minded and bumbling bigots bent on inflicting their pain on the world. brothers from the Colorado Springs community, especially those who see Club Q Colorado Springs as a haven, as their gathering space, as their home,” said Jay Walker, co-founder of Gays Against Guns.
Sunday also marks International Transgender Remembrance Day.
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