New York is stepping up its police presence and rallying for against guns in the wake of a deadly shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado.
Five people were killed, and more than a dozen were injured, when a gunman entered Club Q in Colorado Springs shortly before midnight Saturday and opened fire, local officials said. The 22-year-old accused shooter has been arrested.
In the shooting's wake, New York's governor announced state police would increase surveillance and protection of "communities at risk of hate crimes." Gov. Kathy Hochul said the decision follows the shooting, as well as the weekend's arrest of two men behind a "thwarted attack" on the city's Jewish community.
"Here in New York, we will not tolerate violence or bigotry toward any community. We stand united against hate — today and every day," Hochul said in a statement.
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Her office said the State Police's Counter Terrorism Intelligence Unit would be doing outreach to LGBTQ communities across New York, as well as synagogues and other Jewish community spaces.
Community advocates, meanwhile, planned to hold an afternoon rally at Stonewall Inn. That event was scheduled to kickoff at 4 p.m.
"Waking up to this is giving me flashbacks of June 12, 2016 and Pulse. Our LGBTQIA2S+ communities remain scapegoats and proxies for weak-minded bigots and maladroits bent on inflicting their pain on the world. I grieve with my community siblings in Colorado Springs, especially those who see Club Q Colorado Springs as a haven, as their meeting space, as their home," Jay Walker, cofounder of Gays Against Guns, said Sunday.
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Sunday also marks Trans Day of Remembrance.
