A San Francisco gay pride celebration event ended with widespread panic on Saturday evening as an unknown assailant opened fire, shooting the gun four times and wounding a bystander.
According to witnesses, an argument started between a couple of young individuals in a crowd participating at an event meant to celebrate the Supreme Court ruling which outlawed the ban on gay marriage. One of them pulled out a gun and started shooting it, while the crowd started panicking and running from the area. A video posted online by a witness later recorded at least four gunshots.
An unidentified 64 year old man, unrelated to those having the argument, was shot in his arm after accidentally ending up in the crossfire. Latest reports suggest that he was hospitalized, but his condition is stable.
Police intervened quickly and detained all of the suspects, who were taken into custody for questioning. The police also stated that the argument which started the shooting did not concern the event, so they excluded the possibility of a hate shooting. No other information was released up to date.
The event was held throughout Saturday is held every year and is called the San Francisco Pride Festival. The incident occurred near the end of a concert which spanned the entire day. It was opened on Saturday morning by hundreds of people unveiling a banner in the shape of a pink triangle at San Francisco’s Twin Peaks.
The pink triangle was used in Nazi concentration camps before and during World War II to separate homosexual prisoners in concentration camps from other minorities held there, such as gays or gypsies. It became a symbol of the festival after a group of activist first deployed a giant one on the Twin Peaks hillside visible city-wide, and has since been a motif for the festival.
This year, San Francisco’s Pride Festival coincided with a historic Supreme Court ruling which forbid the possibility of banning gay marriage nationwide, effectively ending its prohibition in 13 U.S. states which did not allow it. The decision sent waves throughout the country and even worldwide, being acclaimed by pro-LGBT supporters and most of the common folk. However, it caused uproar within evangelical and conservative groups, who are threatening with civil disobedience and mass protests.
Image Source: Daily Mail
