Mass Shooting in VA Gay Bar

[commus]

Mass Shooting in VA Gay Bar
PlanetOut News Staff
Monday, September 25, 2000 / 03:14 AM
One person is dead and six were wounded when a man called Gay opened fire in a Roanoke bar because people made fun of his name.

Danny Overstreet and John Collins were just completing a friendly hug in Roanoke, Virginia's gay bar the Back Street Cafe near midnight September 22, when a bearded man in a black trenchcoat who'd come in and ordered a beer just minutes before pulled a 9 mm handgun from his pocket and quickly fired eight rounds into the crowd of 25 - 50, wounding Overstreet, Collins and five others. The bearded man lowered his weapon, walked out the door without having spoken a single word, dumped the gun in a trashbasket, and calmly raised his arms when police accosted him two blocks away. Inside the bar, everyone tried to help the wounded, but Overstreet, 43, hit in the chest, was dead in minutes.

Ronald Edward Gay, 53 was arraigned for first degree murder in Overstreet's death on September 25; additional charges are expected. As of September 25, two victims were still hospitalized: Collins, 39, shot in the abdomen but in stable condition, and Iris Page Webb, 44, in critical condition from a bullet in the neck. Two large gatherings have been held so far to mourn and plan, with another scheduled for September 28.

The Wounded and the Dead
The five other shooting victims were Kathy Caldwell, 36; Linda Conyers, 41; Susan Smith, 45; and Joel Tucker, 40, who is not gay but was visiting the bar with friends. Tucker was shot in the lower back, and the bullet will remain alongside his spine because doctors have determined it would be more damaging to remove it. Smith took a bullet in the leg that exited through her buttocks. Conyers was shot in her right arm and hand. Caldwell was shot in the left hand and right shoulder.

Overstreet went fairly often to the Back Street Cafe, not to drink but to socialize. A pudgy man with a quick and hearty laugh, he was close with his family and doted on his poodle. He lived a quiet life, keeping his home immaculately maintained, working as a telephone operator for Verizon, and in no way becoming politically involved in gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender or other issues. Certainly none of his acquaintances ever expected him to fall victim to a violent crime.

Suspect Wanted to Get Rid of "Faggots"
Roanoke police say Gay admitted the shooting in a confession that was videotaped and will be used against him in court. Police Lieutenant William Althoff told reporters, "He admits to shooting people. He said he was shooting people to get rid of, in his term, 'faggots.' He told us people made fun of his name. ... He told us that he was upset about that." Gay is being held without bail in the Roanoke City Jail, where he is described as a calm and cooperative inmate.

Police had some warning of what was to come. Sometime between 11 and 11:30 p.m., Gay had asked a staffer at the Corned Beef & Co. tavern where the nearest gay bar was, and that worker gave him directions -- not to the Back Street Cafe, but to The Park. (Both are on Salem Avenue, three blocks apart; Gay had been known to hang out at two other venues on the same street.) Then Gay showed his gun to the employee, whose name has not been published, and reported said he was going to "waste some faggots." The staffer had colleagues call 911. A police officer arrived at Corned Beef at 11:39 p.m. and broadcast Gay's description at 11:46 -- but the Back Street shooting was called in at 11:51. Police had stopped Gay on the street by midnight.

Gay's identification showed his residence in Citrus Springs, Florida, but he seems to have been in the Roanoke area for about a year. A Vietnam war veteran, he lives on military disability payments for post-traumatic stress syndrome, and according to his family he had for some time been unable to obtain the medications that kept his flashbacks and anxiety under control. Gay has been married and divorced five times. One of his exes, Laura Ramsey, told the Roanoke Times that he was always drunk -- he seems to have been drinking all day on the day of the shooting -- and always carried a gun. She had also obtained a restraining order against him and filed charges against him after he burst into her Florida home in June and assaulted both her husband and herself.

Roanoke's Commonwealth Attorney Don Caldwell told the Times that, "Based on the evidence I've heard, certainly this man is looking at being locked up for the rest of his life." Life imprisonment is the maximum sentence for the first degree murder charge Gay now faces. Caldwell has indicated that should one of the other shooting victims die, that charge will be upgraded to capital murder. Additional charges will likely include malicious wounding and aggravated malicious wounding. However, the Virginia legislature has repeatedly rejected bills to include sexual orientation as a protected category under the state's hate crimes law, while the U.S. Congress has yet to add sexual orientation to federal hate crimes law. Prosecutors will present Gay's case to a grand jury on October 2.

Mourning and Organizing
Roanoke Mayor Ralph Smith and City Manager Darlene Burcham held a news conference on the morning of September 23. Smith said, "I'm shocked and saddened by this terrible, terrible crime. Any time one member of our community is hurt, we all suffer by that same hand." Burcham added, "We do not want this to reflect upon our community at all."

Virginians for Justice, a member group of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, called for a candlelight vigil September 23 outside the Back Street Cafe. More than 300 people attended; the crowd overflowed the sidewalks to the point where police had to close the block to traffic for the assembly. One speaker, Reverend Catherine Houchins of Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of the Blue Ridge (who along with the church were honored with the Lambda Service Award and Community Service Award at Roanoke's Pride in the Park celebration just a week before) said, "I'm not going back. I didn't come to Roanoke to hide in the closet. Don't grieve like those with no hope." The crowd held hands and sang; activists called for passage of hate crimes legislation for the state and the nation.

Many didn't wait for organized events, but left their own offerings of notes, flowers, balloons and other objects outside the bar. Sunday morning services at the MCC was another occasion of mourning and organizing, with more than sixty people in attendance.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) field organizers called for a community meeting on September 24 that drew more than 150 people, requiring a change of venue to comply with fire regulations. NGLTF's Dan Hawes said, "When Ronald Gay opened fire at the patrons of the bar, he was clearly trying to send a message that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people are not entitled to the same rights as other people. But you are sending a much stronger message here tonight. The community will not be victims in downtown Roanoke, and we will stand together until Roanoke is a hate-free community." Hawes also began organizing a fund to support medical care and psychological counseling for those who were shot and those who were present at the Back Street Cafe during the shooting.

Further vigils are expected to continue nightly this week, to climax with coordinated actions around the U.S. on September 28.

In Overstreet's memory on September 24, San Francisco activists Gilbert Baker and Phyllis Burke were to lower to half-mast the Castro District's rainbow flag; the flag was erected in 1977 on the twentieth anniversary of the assassination of gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk.

[Ed. note: The Roanoke Seven Fund can be contacted C/O Christ the Good Shepherd American Catholic Church, P.O. Box 3359, Roanoke, VA 24015.]

[Christine]

Oh my god.
I can't believe anyone would do that.

[autumnfaerie]

that is sick. what a sicko.i hate sickos. especially armed ones.
ashtrashwednesday
from the ash tree meadow

[weaving on]

sounds like the dude had some serious issues.

[commus]

Funeral in Roanoke
PlanetOut News Staff
Thursday, September 28, 2000 / 06:01 AM
Danny Overstreet may have become famous for his tragic death in the mass shooting at a Virginia gay bar, but he will be remembered for his laughter.

More than 800 people turned out September 27 for the funeral of slain gay Danny Overstreet, killed in a mass shooting in Roanoke, Virginia's gay-friendly bar the Back Street Cafe on September 22 in which six others were injured (see PlanetOut News of September 25). Many at the funeral had never known Overstreet or even his name before the incident, but felt a need to show their solidarity with his family and community in a stand against hate violence. Those who did know Overstreet recalled him as a happy, laughing, entertainingly comical fellow who was also a source of support in time of need. Many in attendance wore white armbands signifying innocence.

Peripatetic anti-gay picketer Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps and his Topeka, Kansas clan did not attend despite their enthusiastic claims earlier in the week that they were "packing their bags." Even if they had come, they would have been blocked from mourners by a human shield of members of the newly-formed Hate Free Roanoke Task Force who stood outside Oakley's Funeral Home in Vinton, Virginia. Phelps' daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper gave the excuse his Westboro Baptist Church has so often given for the Phelpses' increasingly frequent failure to show up after announcing their visits: lack of trust that police would provide adequate protection for the picketers. In fact there were reportedly 36 to 50 law enforcement officers from four different departments outside the funeral home waiting for the Phelpses to arrive, and many who had come to honor Overstreet were well-prepared to avoid engagement with the Phelpses and ensure there would be no violence. As Vinton Police Chief Herb Cooley remarked sourly to the Roanoke Times, Phelps "did what he expected to do -- disrupt the community. He got his media attention and didn't have to spend the money."

There were really three groups at the memorial, aside from police. The inside of the funeral home chapel was packed with Overstreet's family, friends and co-workers. The overflow crowd and the Hate Free Roanoke Task Force stood in the funeral home parking lot, several hundred strong. Across the street was another crowd of dozens of non-participants, many sympathetic, some merely curious, and at least one grumpy about the public cost of the police providing security.

There was also a car that drove by with a banner heralding the suspect now in custody for the shooting that read, "Ronnie Gay for Pres." Police say Ronald Edward Gay has confessed to the crime.

Overstreet was eulogized by his niece Misty, who said, "He was full of life. His very character poured with animation. To every situation, he could bring life. Whenever he walked into a room, he brought life. You've heard of God's chosen ones. He was a chosen one. He was the laughing man. He hated to see sadness. ... Danny was there for all of us, and he still is there for all of us."

Presiding at the open-casket funeral was Reverend Catherine Houchins of the local predominantly gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender Metropolitan Community Church of the Blue Ridge, who carried out the theme of Overstreet's oft-noted laugh. She said, "It's now our job to carry that laughter, to carry that joy, to carry that hope. ... Continue to block the hate of the world with love. Continue Danny's laughter."

Danny Overstreet was much loved not just despite but because he embodied many elements of the stereotypical effeminate gay man. At times he performed as a drag character "Iwanna," and in his work in customer service for Verizon his voice on the phone was often mistaken for a woman's. His cubicle at work was pink. He was a trained beautician who advised women he worked with about their hairstyles. He cooked well, he adored his poodle, he maintained his home to a high standard, he had a close and loving relationship with his mother. But what many remarked on was how comfortable he was with who he was, and what a happy man he was; the photos displayed at the service showed him smiling and, of course, laughing. A gentle man and always a comedian, he sought to lift others' spirits as well, and was the life of every party. Kathy Caldwell, in one of her first ventures out in public since a bullet at the Back Street Cafe nearly severed her finger, said of Overstreet, "Gay as well as straight, there are people happy just to be happy."

As the service inside the chapel broke up, Bishop Anthony Hash of Christ the Good Shepherd American Catholic Church started up another memorial with the crowd in the parking lot, praying for "the courage to stand up against hate" as well as the recovery of those damaged by the shooting. The crowd became a circle and began to sing together, including We Shall Overcome and Give Peace a Chance.

Vigils have been held outside the Back Street Cafe each night since the shooting, but on September 28 vigils are also planned for a half-dozen other Virginia cities, for Washington, DC, and in Colorado and Michigan. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has passed a memorial resolution for Overstreet.

[Ed. note: Victim support fund checks can be sent to Christ the Good Shepherd American Catholic Church, P.O. Box 3359, Roanoke 24015, with checks made out to the church but designated for the Hate Free Roanoke Task Force (not written to the Roanoke Seven Fund as previously announced). Overstreet's co-workers at Verizon have also set up a fund for his family (aside from funeral expenses his mother is in poor health); checks, made out to the Danny L. Overstreet Fund, may be sent to First Citizens Bank,1959 Valley View Blvd., Roanoke 24012, and donations are being accepted at all First Citizens branches.]

[Diamond Well]

So sad...

You watch, just watch the post traumatic stress and alcoholism come into play. Do you guys know very little is done for people who are truely sick with mental conditions? They used to lock them up like animals- which is wrong- but now they stay maybe for a few days in a hospital then they are discharged, sometimes they recieve what I considder loose out-patient monitoring. But anyway, I understand if possibly he was a mentally ill alcoholic. So I have post traumatic stress from growing up in a homophobic culture, does that mean I can kill the homophobic teachers which the kids on this forum complain about? Can I kill a random group of straight people for repressing me all my life?

Think of everything the straight world has done to us. Now think of everything we have done to the straight world. If anyone is going hunting it should be us. But thank god we dont have brains as primitive, I dont care, it's true.

[autumnfaerie]

i got me a nice ol pea shooter. lets go a huntin! i figgur we can bag us some game today. ya reckon?
ashtrashwednesday
from the ash tree meadow

[Diamond Well]

Originally posted by autumnfaerie
i got me a nice ol pea shooter. lets go a huntin! i figgur we can bag us some game today. ya reckon?
ashtrashwednesday
from the ash tree meadow

Oh! If only you asked me a few years ago! But dont worry AutumnFaerie (I like your spelling of faerie), they are likely to shoot themselves by their clumsiness, like when hunting <i>dar</i>, or just maybe while they're hunting us.