Bratislava, Slovakia: 20,000 assemble to honor the memories of the victims of Wednesday's shooting, now being investigated as a hate crime

The commemorative ceremony at the Tepláreň bar and the subsequent procession to an assembly to condemn hatred against the LGBT+ community was also attended by Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger, and other figures from political life. The motive for the crime, according to police, was hatred toward people who are not heterosexual.

In her speech, Čaputová apologized to the LGBT+ community for the fact that society had not managed to protect their loved ones. Those attending the afternoon event filled the street, which begins in Bratislava’s historical center, passes by the bar, and comes to an end at Bratislava Castle and the building of Parliament.

At the scene of the tragedy, many lit candles and laid flowers. Those in attendance then headed to a nearby square for the assembly.

Similar events were convened in other cities throughout Slovakia and also in the Czech Republic. Speaking to the assembly, Čaputová said: “I am sorry, I regret that our society has not managed to protect your loved ones.”

“I am sorry that some of you cannot feel safe in Slovakia. I am sorry that as people from the LGBTI community you continue to feel you are not accepted in Slovakia,” the president said.

“You belong here, you are valuable to our society,” Čaputová told the assembly. The Vice-President of the European Parliament (EP), Michal Šimečka, then took to the podium, announced an initiative for the EP to investigate such crimes, and also called on the Slovak authorities to bring an end to hate speech against the LGBT+ minority.

The owner of the Tepláreň bar, Roman Samotný, then said the only thing the shooting victims had been “guilty” of was having been born as members of the LGBT+ community. “Where have we ended up as a country?” he asked the assembly.

“Hate is the norm. Vulgarity is a daily component of our vocabularies,” the bar owner said.

The Presidential Palace flew the rainbow flag, a symbol of sexual minorities, to honor the victims of the shooting and as a symbol of solidarity with the LGBT+ community. The Inakosť (Otherness) initiative, which defends the rights of non-heterosexuals in Slovakia, called the fatal shooting of the two men a crime unparalleled in the community’s history; the commemorative ceremony, the subsequent procession, and the assembly in the capital of Slovakia are apparently the biggest such events since those held in response to the murder of the journalist Ján Kuciak and his girlfriend in 2018.

Shooting to be investigated as a hate crime or terrorism

The murders perpetrated on Wednesday will be investigated as a hate crime motivated by the actual or perceived sexual orientation of the victims, but it cannot be ruled out that the qualification of the crime will be changed to that of terrorism. Ľubomír Daňko, head of an elite police unit, informed journalists of that possibility on 14 October.

“This action was a ‘hate crime’, undoubtedly. It targeted people who have a different sexual orientation, who were born that way, who can’t do anything about it,” elite prosecutor Daniel Lipšic added during a press conference on the incident.

From the investigation so far, police say it does not seem the assailant knew the victims. He used a gun with a laser sight, which was legally owned by a relative of his; according to the media, the father of the shooter owned the weapon.

Police do not presume the assailant had an accomplice. According to the prosecutor, he waited about a half an hour outside the bar before firing the gun.

The shooter fled the scene of the crime, returning to his home, which he then left once more. He then committed what was likely suicide using a different gun; his body was found by an eyewitness on the morning of Thursday, who called police.

According to Branka Kišše, the police vice-president, police collaborated with the civilian secret service SIS to ascertain the assailant’s identity and were on his trail just three and a half hours after the attack. The prosecutor said the parents of the shooter did not call police about their son’s crime even though they knew he had perpetrated it.

Their son left a good-bye letter and the murder weapon at home. He had previously visited a gun range to practice shooting.

According to the Slovak media, ahead of the shooting, the assailant published a manifesto against Jews and the LGBT+ community on social media calling for violence against those groups. He also tweeted after the attack.

Earlier the gunman had not just posed for a photograph outside the bar, but had also posed for a photograph outside the home of Slovak PM Heger. It is exactly on the basis of his manifesto and the investigation of other evidence that detectives might consider changing the legal qualification of his crime to that of terrorism.