Shooting at San Francisco gay pride event leaves one dead, 2 wounded

One person was killed and two others injured following a shooting Saturday evening at a gay pride event in San Francisco, authorities said.

Stephen Powell, 19, died after being shot in the chest during a street party in the city’s Castro District, said San Francisco police spokesman Samson Chan. A 19-year-old woman and 29-year-old man were also shot, but are expected to survive.

A 19-year-old man was arrested at the scene and is being held in connection with all three shootings, Chan said. He declined to release the suspect’s name.

Chan said there was no immediate indication as to the motive, and that the crime remained under investigation.

The shootings occurred during the “Pink Saturday” celebration, a prelude to Sunday’s Gay Pride parade.

-- Scott Glover

Comments

[Wolfbane]

What is this world coming to? Where is the peace and brotherly love?

[Nick]

This is extremely depressing and not to mention a hate crime.

[Kevin]

That is disgusting that a person could be shot at just for following what they believe in or doing what makes them happy. I hope this sicko spends a lot of years in prison to think about what he has done and realize that he just took an amazing young persons life.

[lynne h. MOor]

our country has become a shooting gallery..in parks, on streets, in drive bys..it is the wild west with a Congress to cowardly to deal with the US insane, outrageous policy towards the owning of guns.."responsible gun owner is an oxymoron" Why if our homicide rates, (and suicide by guns) so high, do we continue to tolerate the NRA, the extreme right wing.. and yes,, the cowardly Democratic Congressmen. Lynne H. Moor

[Dean McAdams]

I'd like to see the details on this story please.

[Amira]

Why hasn't this been broadcasted more?

[H. Craig Bradley]

Gay Pride is "In Your Face"
>

This kind of lifestyle paraded around in the public square is bound to offend some of the public. There are lunitics and extremists at both ends of the political spectrum. In this case, a 19 year old apparently had it in for the gay community. However, their lack of discretion provoked the violence and serves as a warning for others. Like anti-abortion zealots, public reactions against questionable lifestyles in the public square (domain) are not controlable.

[Wow Really]

Minds and attitudes similar to H. Craig Bradley's are why we need MORE events like Pride.

[Dee]

It is really interesting to me that they state that motives are still "under question" when it is entirely evident that, as Nick stated, this WAS a hate crime. I was at the intersection when this happened, and a few of my friends actually witnessed it and recall seeing the shooter pull the gun out and do a spree of 4-6 shots into the crowd. This wasn't an incident of someone getting disgruntled at a single person, this was some entirely close-minded person getting agitated that being open with one's sexual preferences, whatever they may be, was being celebrated. It makes me sick to think that this entire debate is still up for question, this kid didn't deserve to be killed the way in which he was, and it is just another stick in the pile of all of the things that prove that people who don't agree with the lifestyle will just about go to any length to get their point across. Unfortunately it's just making all of these homophobic persons seem entirely frantic and driven by something that seems to be clouding their logic.

[Lorelei]

Heres more on the story:

"Arrestee in SF pride shooting pleads not guilty
June 27, 2010

2010-06-30 14:44:00 PDT San Francisco, CA 94100, United States — (06-30) 14:44 PDT San Francisco, CA (AP) --

A San Francisco man arrested in connection with a fatal shooting at a weekend gay pride event has pleaded not guilty to two felony gun charges.

Twenty-year-old Ed Perkins was initially arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of 19-year-old Stephen Powell. But prosecutors say there is not enough evidence to pursue a murder charge.

Perkins pleaded not guilty to possessing a concealed weapon and possessing a loaded weapon during his arraignment on Wednesday."

There should be another charge of hate crime on this because it is obvious that he open fired into the crowd just trying to attack those that are different than himself. He was unhappy to see people celebrating something important to them that he did not agree with and thought that he had a right to take matters into his own hands. If he had fired into a crowd of another minirity celebrating something, it would have immediately been pegged as a hate crime. Its discusting how backwards people can be and how slow we are to educate people on our differences. Just let one another just be themselves.

[ayyyyr]

this was not a hate crime he was straight... youre looking too far into it there was nobody trying to kill gay people just someone who hated steve enough to kill him

[sdkjflsdf]

STEVE WASNT GAY!