A Minneapolis man has been arrested and charged with felonies after allegedly pulling out a gun and threatening staff at a historic gay bar in the city.
Hennepin County prosecutors say Conell Walter Harris, 30, entered 19 Bar, the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ bar in Minneapolis, located in the city’s Loring Park neighborhood, on Monday.
He quickly attracted the attention of other customers, who claimed he was “acting strangely,” according to Minnesota Public Radio News.
When an employee asked Harris for his ID, Harris became visibly upset. When a different employee asked Harris to leave, he allegedly pulled out a gun, held it in his hand, and said, “I ain’t going nowhere,” reports Minneapolis ABC affiliate KAKE.
Harris allegedly “squared up” with the employee, prompting a patron to insert themselves between Harris and the bartender in an attempt to de-escalate the situation, according to court documents. But Harris threatened both the employee and the patron, telling them, “Watch what the f— you’re saying,” and “I’m going to f— you up.”
Harris then exited the bar, telling the bartender, “I’ll f—ing kill your dyke ass” as he left.
Witnesses say Harris later re-entered the bar and began playing pool before officers arrived on scene. Police say Harris resisted arrest and repeatedly reached into his sweatshirt pocket. Officers allegedly recovered a .45 caliber Glock on Harris’s person.
Harris faces felony charges of making violent threats and being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
The incident comes less than two weeks after a mass shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which killed five and injured 20 others. The alleged shooter in that case, Anderson Lee Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary, was stopped after two patrons tackled them, beat them with their own gun, and restrained them until police could arrive.
Last week, a man in Atlanta was arrested for allegedly making “terroristic threats” towards at least two LGBTQ nightclubs. The suspect in that cases, Chase Staub, allegedly posted videos to Instagram that appeared to imply he intended to shoot up one club. Staub entered the second club in person and allegedly made threats to patrons and employees before being asked to leave.
A Florida man has been arrested on burglary charges after allegedly breaking into another man's Miami home just before 4 a.m. on Sunday, December 28, sexually touching him while he slept, and urinating on him before fleeing.
According to an arrest affidavit, the victim called police to his apartment in the 4200 block of Northwest 11th Street in Miami's Flagami neighborhood to report a burglary. He told responding officers from the Miami Police Department that he had returned home after walking friends to the parking lot.
Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud was arrested in West Palm Beach after allegedly trying to run down members of an LGBTQ running group during a meet-up in a local park. The Florida man faces two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and one count of reckless driving.
El Mahmoud could also face hate crime charges or bias enhancements for allegedly targeting the group because of their sexual orientation.
According to West Palm Beach police, El Mahmoud allegedly took offense at what he perceived as a comment about his sexual orientation when a runner asked if he was at Howard Park for the "Night Runners West Palm Beach" group's regular meet-up.
A masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a queer woman in Minneapolis after opening fire through the window of her SUV during a confrontation in the street.
Video footage posted online shows two masked ICE officers approaching a Honda Pilot stopped in the middle of Portland Avenue near 34th Street in Minneapolis' Powderhorn neighborhood. One agent can be heard yelling at the SUV's driver -- later identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good -- telling her to "get out of the fucking car" while attempting to open the driver's door, as a second officer stands back.
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