WASHINGTON — More than 100 people gathered in Northwest D.C., Monday, to grieve after yet another American mass shooting.
On Saturday, a 22-year-old man fired an AR-15-style rife inside Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs. The shooting left five people dead and another 25 people injured in the bar, which was seen as a safe space in the local LGBTQ community.
The D.C. Mayor's Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Affairs organized a memorial vigil for those impacted by the shooting at Dupont Circle.
The candlelight ceremony included speeches from members of D.C.’s LGBTQ community, District leaders, and multiple faith leaders. WUSA9’s Larry Miller also emceed the event.
“Gun violence and anti-LGBT hate will not stomp out our light,” said Japer Bowles, director of the DC Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
Almost six years ago, D.C. residents came together in the very same spot to hold a vigil for victims of the Pulse Night Club shooting in Orlando, Florida.
Locals said they were frustrated to see another targeted shooting of LGBTQ people in America.
“I am tired,” said Kenya Hutton of the Center for Black Equity in D.C. “I am tired. I am sick and tired.”
D.C. resident and ANC Commissioner Mike Silverstein said this latest shooting should serve as a reminder to everyone in America that they can be victimized by hatred.
“Hate is hate,” he said. “And, perhaps what’s directed today at the LGBTQ community could be directed the next day at people of color, or people of a different religion, or new Americans who just came here.”