t vigil for Wednesday night at a local park.

 Venture-N has been a safe haven, a sanctuary, and a place of comfort for Tucson's queer community for decades,  PFLAG Phoenix wrote in a social media post.  This tragedy is a heavy and painful reminder of the homophobia and hate that still exists. 

The shooting left members of the LGBTQIA+ community shocked and heartbroken, said Mary O'Donoghue, the executive director of Southern Arizona Senior Pride. It also stirred up traumatic memories for many older adults, damaging the sense of safety they had in an otherwise often-welcoming city, said O'Donoghue, whose organization provides supportive services and healthy aging programming for LGBTQ seniors.

 We're talking about folks that are in their 70s and 80s, having lived through Stonewall and other experiences where there has been discrimination, aggression and violence,  O'Donoghue said.  It really has a rippling effect - they're reliving a lifetime of violence and discrimination on their community. 

O'Donoghue said one person she talked to had moved to Tucson from Colorado Springs, Colorado, where a shooting at a gay nightclub in 2022 left five people dead. Other group members retired to Tucson after living in Florida, where 49 people were killed and 53 others were wounded in the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said the shooting at Venture-N was a  direct and devastating attack on our LGBTQ+ community, another senseless act of gun violence. 

The shooting  serves as another painful reminder that homophobia is still rampant in our country,  Romero said in a video posted to Facebook.