Minneapolis LGBTQ club mulling extra security in wake of Colorado Springs shooting
MINNEAPOLIS – The tragic nightclub shooting in Colorado Springs is prompting one LGBTQ club in downtown Minneapolis to increase security in the coming weeks as an extra precaution.
Bobby Palmer, general manager at The Saloon, said the bar is contemplating training staff with an emergency preparedness plan and bringing in armed security. Bag checks and metal detectors that are used during Pride, a celebration that draws thousands, might come back on a more regular basis. He emphasized safety is a top priority.
"We have had such incredibly low rates of any kind of violence or crime in our club and I'm really happy to say that," Palmer said. "But this is something no one can predict and that's what makes it so scary."
Law enforcement identified the five people killed in the deadly shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, over the weekend. Seventeen others suffered injuries from gunshots.
A 22-year-old faces five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, online court records obtained by CBS News show. They are preliminary and prosecutors have not filed them in court as of Monday night.
"Every queer space, every gay bar, everything that falls within the LGBTQIA+ umbrella is a target. It's always a target," Palmer said. "We don't talk about it. We don't think about it, but it is a target. It's something we always have to be aware of."
Federal data show 1 in 5 hate crimes in 2020 were motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias. Six years ago, a gunman opened fire inside Pulse nightclub and killed 49 people, marking the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community in U.S. history.
Advocacy organization OutFront Minnesota has a crisis counseling that is open for anyone who needs to process what happened. A trained advocate can be reached at 612-822-0127 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Kat Rohn, the group's executive director, said she is concerned that there is a direct link between hateful rhetoric towards the LGBTQ community and other marginalized groups and acts of violence. The attack in Colorado Springs is particularly painful because of what nightclubs mean to people, she added.
"For somebody to step into that space and commit an act of violence like this is both, you know, deeply tragic on a human level, but also on a, you know, sort of symbolic level of invading that space of safety for LGBTQ community members," Rohn said.
Palmer said in wake of tragedy, there was a beam of light: People still showed up to The Saloon on Sunday – their safe space – undeterred by fear.
"I walked in here on Sunday. And they said, 'OK, where else would we go? This is our home,'" he said. "We are stronger together. We're stronger in numbers, and it's gonna take more than one person with a gun to stop that."
The Saloon is also planning a fundraiser for survivors of the Club Q shooting next month.
