A 43 year old anti-gay man walked into a gay bar in Minneapolis (the Saloon) on Thursday night and began harassing customers inside. And, before the incident was contained, he shot an out of town gay couple with a BB gun while quoting a Bible verse.
From The New Civil Rights Movement:
Wayne Steven Odegard appears to have a long arrest record, and last week he added one more arrest to that list.
According to the guard at the Saloon, a decades-old downtown Minneapolis gay bar, Odegard first used anti-gay slurs to attack the bar's patrons, then the BB gun.
Ultimately, Odegard shot one of the out-of-state men through his jeans, drawing blood. While the injuries were no serious, Erickson notes had Odegard been aiming for the face it could have shot through his cheek.
And, from
myfoxtwincities:
MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Tyler Erickson, a security guard at the Saloon said hate crimes like the one he had on his hands Thursday night should never happen, let alone in a city like Minneapolis.
Erickson says what happened is unlike anything he's seen in his 5 years of working nightlife security .
“He made a disrespectful comment towards the homosexual community, towards a couple that was holding hands and he obviously didn't appreciate that,” Erickson said.
Shortly after his expletives, Odegard's sheer disregard for the establishment, or humanity, then escalated. After yelling gay slurs, he allegedly pulled out a CO2 powered BB gun.
“I ran after him and then it ended up he shot a different gay couple in the leg, with that gun and it went through his jeans and drew blood,” Erickson said.
“He told me multiple times that I'm going to go to hell and he's going to bring me with him,” Erickson said. “He recited a biblical passage -- I think it's a deuteronomy passage.”
You can hear the entire news report of the incident at the link cited above.
My guess is that the quoted Bible verse is from Leviticus, but who knows. The scene must have been terrifying for the bar patrons ... I mean a man with a gun in a bar shouting hateful rhetoric at folks. How would they have known it was just a BB gun (which is plenty dangerous enough)?