We will be proud, and we will celebrate in honour of all those lost.”Ĭarl Oliver of Los Angeles attends the parade every year. “Our brave founders made this happen to show the world who we are,” the statement said. The organizers of LA Pride said in a statement before the parade that the Orlando tragedy made them all the more determined to continue with plans.
Greeson also said Howell harboured no ill will for gays or lesbians.
Greeson told the Los Angeles Times that he and Howell are in a car club together and that Howell had a gun collection. He was given one-year prison sentence that the judge suspended in favour of strict probation that prohibited him from having weapons.Ī friend of Howell’s, 18-year-old Joseph Greeson, said Howell’s parents in Jeffersonville hadn’t seen him for days and that they called Greeson’s parents looking for him. He made a deal with prosecutors in April to plead guilty only to the misdemeanour intimidation charge. Howell was charged in October in Clark County, Indiana, with pointing a firearm at someone, and with intimidation. The site said Howell worked as an auditor for a company that makes air filters. Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks initially tweeted that Howell told officers he wanted to “do harm” at the gay pride event, but she later corrected her statement to say only that Howell said he was going to the parade, about 11 kilometres from the scene of the arrest.Īuthorities would answer no further questions on Howell or his motives. They found two more assault rifles, high-capacity magazines and ammunition and a five-gallon bucket with chemicals that could be used to make an explosive device, police said. That prompted them to search the whole car. When officers arrived they saw an assault rifle sitting in Howell’s passenger seat, Santa Monica police Lt. after residents called police to report suspicious behaviour by a man who parked his white Acura sedan facing the wrong way. We’re here to march, to celebrate and to mourn.” “And we will not shrink away, we will not be stuck in our homes, we will not go back into our closets. The third largest Pride festival and parade in California, we celebrate the LGBTQ+ community with a focus on inclusion, and work to educate the wider community that. “We are here as Angelenos, as the LGBT community and allies,” he said. Long Beach Pride, a 501(c)3 non-profit, is an all-volunteer organization that produces the annual three-day Long Beach Pride festival, parade and teen pride annually in May. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the arrest at the start of the parade and struck a defiant tone. The LA Pride event continued as usual, albeit with increased security. The early morning arrest in Santa Monica of James Wesley Howell, 20, of Jeffersonville, came just a few hours after at least 50 people were shot and killed in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, though police said they had found no evidence of a connection between the events. SANTA MONICA, CALIF.-An Indiana man armed with three assault rifles and chemicals used to make explosives was arrested in Southern California on Sunday and told police he was headed to a West Hollywood gay pride parade, an event that annually draws hundreds of thousands of people, authorities said.