Gov. John Kasich has ordered that flags be lowered to half-staff on all public buildings and grounds throughout the state to honor the victims of the shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida.
Kasich sent out a tweet Sunday saying, "Terror & violence have no place in our world. We must fight it together."
AP reports that a group that educates and advocates on behalf of the LGBTQ community in Ohio is asking that people wear white ribbons in solidarity with those affected by the shooting.
Equality Ohio says that the largest deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history happened at a gay bar "is a sign that we have a long, long way to go."
On Sunday evening, about 100 people attended a vigil at the Free Stamp in Willard Park in Downtown Cleveland. Jacob Nash was there, and he tells WKYC, “I had a friend who, I found out this morning, was supposed to be there last night. And he decided last-minute that he was going to stay home. And if he hadn’t stayed home, he could have been one of those victims. It just hurts my heart that somebody would be in such fear of who we are to do something like this.”
Sen. Rob Portman tells Channel 3 that combating domestic terrorism needs a three-step approach: monitoring of extremists, encouraging the Muslim community to identify them, and vigilance. And he says the issue goes beyond gun control.
“Honestly, I think the bigger issue here is when someone is intent on doing harm -- because of this hateful ideology -- it is very difficult to be sure that you can stop them every time. We have to be right 100 percent of the time. And in this case, this guy slipped through the cracks.”
Cleveland.com reports police in the city plan to add extra patrols around gay bars.
