Police in Asheville, North Carolina, shot and killed a man who allegedly opened fire on a gay bar from its parking lot after being kicked out of the establishment.
Shakey’s — which markets itself as a “gay dive bar for drag, karaoke, DJs, cheap drinks, patio hangs, dance parties, and late-night pizza” — said in a statement posted to Instagram that an individual “whose behavior caused concern” was asked to leave the bar during the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 15. He was later seen with a gun in the bar’s parking lot.
When staff and customers became aware of the armed man, they locked the doors, called 911, and followed the dispatcher’s instructions, moving everyone away from the windows and onto the floor. Gunshots were then fired outside the bar.
Asheville police officers arrived at the scene and returned fire, striking the man, who later died from his injuries, according to a post on the department’s official Facebook page. No officers were injured in the altercation.
In accordance with protocol, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation will investigate the officer-involved shooting. No additional information, including the name of the man who was killed, has been released.
Shakey’s confirmed that no staff members or customers were injured in the shooting. The bar reopened for regular business on Wednesday afternoon.
“For almost four years, Shakey’s has been a place where people come to feel safe, welcomed, and part of a community,” the bar wrote on Instagram. “Our hearts are with everyone who was there last night. Even when no one is physically hurt, experiences like this leave people shaken, and we know many of our staff, customers, neighbors, and first responders are still processing what happened today.”
"It started as an excuse to get people together," says Fergus O'Brien, a local realtor who prefers to go by his first name, referring to the monthly gathering he has organized for a decade and that, until this week, was known as "DIK Bar Bear Happy Hour."
"Over time, it became a community of its own, and it's always evolving," Fergus adds. "People come to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and enjoy a setting where conversation doesn't have to compete with loud music. It's really about bringing people together and all that entails."
San Francisco's oldest gay bar, the Stud, had its Instagram account temporarily suspended last week after at least one user reported its posts for allegedly promoting "human trafficking," its owners told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Stud primarily uses its social media accounts -- including Instagram, where it has more than 30,000 followers -- to promote its parties, concerts, and drag events. But the bar's co-owners say the suspension hampered its ability to promote recent events and may have resulted in lost revenue.
As the weekend approached, Honey Mahogany, a local activist and one of the bar's co-owners, explained the suspension in a video posted to her Instagram account. The bar is owned and operated by a worker cooperative known as The Stud Collective.
Two men were beaten and subjected to anti-gay slurs in what police believe was a bias-motivated attack in downtown Manhattan last month.
The victims, ages 31 and 37, were walking on Broadway near West 29th Street around 7:30 p.m. on July 31 when two men approached them and made anti-LGBTQ remarks, according to the New York Daily News.
The assailants then repeatedly punched and kicked the victims while shouting homophobic slurs, according to police. The suspects fled south on Broadway.
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