Minneapolis Mass Shooting Leaves Transgender Community Fearful of Further Violence

The victim killed in a Friday shooting at a punk show in Minnesota has been identified. A gunman opened fire into a backyard venue, killing August Golden and striking six others.

Minneapolis police are looking for two people who fled the area.

It all happened at an outdoor music show in the backyard and garage of Nudieland, a residential performance space south of Minneapolis shortly after 10 p.m.

“We believe one of the persons was being targeted by a shooter,” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a press conference on Saturday. “We know two suspects ran from the scene. I can’t confirm there were two shooters, though.”

The backyard punk show was underway on Friday as Quinn McClurg snapped pictures of her joyful friends when a gunman targeted the LGBTQ+ attendees in a deadly mass shooting.

As a poet and journalist attending the University of Minnesota who moved to Minneapolis in 2021, McClurg was quickly welcomed into DIY shows like Nudieland, Reckon reports.

“DIY shows are one of the only regularly safe places for trans folks, queer folks, punks, and everybody to get together and socialize,” the 21-year-old transgender woman said. “Because everybody you know and love is there. People you’ve worked in the encampments with, people you’ve done protests with—everybody’s there.”

Nudieland was formed two years ago as an extension of its sister venue, Disgraceland. In addition to being a venue, Nudieland is also home to many of its punk patrons who reside in the house.

One of the residents, who is trans, told Reckon, “This is not a unique space. So many of the bunkhouses I started going to, as young as 16, in and around Southside [Minneapolis], were the same way: there was no striving; we were just in it together, whoever walked in. We’ve always been freaks.”

On the night of the shooting, there was a celebration of the new album release of one of the local bands, Texture Freq.

McClurg and Aaron Diveley, who is also transgender, are among the survivors of that night who have been supporting one another to figure out what happened. It appears that two men followed two queer women at the show.

MPR News posted an Instagram photo with a comment from a user who said they were at the event, “They were trying to flirt with me and my friend—who both identify as lesbians—and we told them we weren’t interested and not to touch us. They got upset and eventually walked off, and less than a minute after [they] started firing.”

“This was a hate crime,” Diveley said.

Several GoFundMe sites have been set up to support the victims of the attack.

"Our hearts are saddened this week as we absorb the impact of yet another hateful, violent attack on our queer/trans community with the shooting at Nudieland," said Jeremy Hanson Willis, CEO of Minnesota LGBTQ+ health group Rainbow Health, in a statement. "We share the feelings of loss and fear, and we send our love to those affected by this senseless act."

He added, "To those who attack LGBTQ+ people in our neighborhood and across the globe, remember this: we’re not going anywhere."