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Police officials in Slovakia have reclassified a shooting at a popular LGBTQ+ bar as an act of hate-inspired terrorism.
Slovakian police officials have recategorized an attack on the LGBTQ+ community as terrorism, while the gunman's haunting words indicate an obsession with mass shooters.
Last Wednesday, a gunman who attacked the LGBTQ+ community in Bratislava described the Buffalo supermarket shooter as his inspiration for committing terrorist acts.
Shortly after 7 p.m., a shooter opened fire outside the Teplaren bar in Bratislava's city center, killing two people and wounding a third. A Twitter account believed to be the shooter, 19-year-old Juraj Krajcik, tweeted the hashtags "#bratislava #hatecrime #gaybar" and "feeling no regrets, isn't that funny?" Police found his body the next day. He'd died by suicide.
The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Eduard Heger, condemned the killing of the two young people by the radicalized teen.
"No form of white supremacy, racism and #extremism against communities, incl. #LGBTI, can be tolerated. We will fight disinfo channels spreading hate &protect minorities," he wrote.
\u201cI strongly condem a murder of two young people shot dead in #Bratislava last night by a radicalised teenager. No form of white supremacy, racism and #extremism against communities, incl. #LGBTI, can be tolerated. We will fight disinfo channels spreading hate &protect minorities\u201d— Eduard Heger (@Eduard Heger) 1665659214
Investigators in Slovakia called the shooting a terrorist attack Monday, motivated by hatred of the LGBTQ+ community.
Homeland Security Today reports that Krajcik tweeted a selfie standing across from Teplaren, with the bar in frame in mid-August, followed by an ominous tweet in September writing that "in all likelyhood (sic) I will die in the course of the operation."
Then on October 11 and 12, he tweeted, "I have made my decision," and "It will be done," the outlet reports.
Somebody uploaded an online screed of 65 pages to various file-sharing sites shortly before the attack. Although the writing does not include the author's name, he claims to be of Slovak origin and was born in July 2003; the last section is dated August 24 and signed by "JK."
To spread their warped ideology, mass murderers have often posted rehashed far-right material to message boards as part of their hate-motivated attacks.
"Since 2019, I have slowly been preparing: gathering targets, researching and monitoring them, reading about tactics and strategies," the text continued.
According to Homeland Security Today, Krajcik stated he received "new inspiration" following this May's supermarket massacre in Buffalo.
In New York, ten people were killed, and three were wounded at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo, where a teenager opened fire on people in the parking lot before entering the store and continuing shooting. He also posted a screed online.
