BRATISLAVA: Two people were killed and another one was injured after a shooting in front of an LGBT venue in Bratislava on Wednesday evening.
The attacker was found dead on Thursday morning, Slovak police said, refusing to comment on whether the shooting could have been a hate crime.
The force also reassured the public there were no concerns about further attacks.
It happened in front of Tepláreň, one of the few LGBT spots in the Slovak capital, at around 19h CEST.
Witnesses told the local media that they heard up to 10 shots.
The two men who were shot dead at the scene were both in their 20s. One of the men worked at the bar, newspaper SME reported.
The wounded woman — who also works at Tepláreň — was rushed to the hospital, but her life is not in danger.
Meanwhile, the domestic press identified the suspected attacker as Juraj K., a 19-year-old man who left homophobic and anti-Semitic messages on his Twitter account.
Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger condemned the double murder on Thursday, saying that “extremism is unacceptable”, while President Zuzana Čaputová called on politicians to stop spreading hate.
“My thoughts are with the family & friends of the victims of yesterday’s horrific attack in Bratislava & everyone in the #LGBTIQ+ community affected by it,” Čaputová said in a Twitter post.
Čaputová came to the scene of the shooting on Thursday afternoon, laying flowers in front of Tepláreň and embracing the owner of the bar.
“Words can become weapons. Hate kills. As politicians, we must weigh every word we say before it’s too late,” she said.__Courtesy EuroNews
