Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers stated on Monday that the shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub that left five people dead and 25 others hurt “had all the appearances of being a hate crime.”
Police have named Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, as the person responsible for the fatal shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ club, but have not yet released their investigation’s motivation. He could be charged with murder and a hate crime.
“The motive is still under investigation,” said Mayor Suthers told NBC’s Today show.
However, he added that “it certainly has the trappings of a hate crime.”
Authorities have stated that first-degree murder charges will undoubtedly be brought, despite the fact that they have not yet designated the shooting as a hate crime.
According to AFP, GLAAD, an LGBTQ advocacy group, has noted that the attack occurred on Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day that celebrates those who have been the victims of transphobic crimes.
“You can draw a straight line from the false and vile rhetoric about LGBTQ people spread by extremists and amplified across social media, to the nearly 300 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year, to the dozens of attacks on our community like this one,” the organization’s president Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.
The openly transgender state lawmaker from Colorado, Brianna Titone, also singled out anti-LGBTQ remarks. Titone wrote on Twitter, “When politicians and pundits keep perpetuating tropes, insults, and misinformation about the trans and LGBTQ+ community, this is a result.”
According to Reuters, concern has grown among LGBTQ communities in the United States as a result of a divisive political climate and several threats and violent acts that have targeted LGBTQ people and events in recent months.