Police arrest teen suspected of killing 1 & injuring 6 in shooting at LGBTQ+ music venue

Minneapolis police have arrested 18-year-old Dominic James Burris for allegedly killing one person and injuring six others in an August 11, 2023, shooting at Nudieland, an LGBTQ+-inclusive punk rock music venue. Burris and his suspected accomplice, 17-year-old Cyrell Ernest Boyd, now face seven felony charges. Prosecutors say their alleged actions were motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ hatred.

Burris and Boyd allegedly went to the venue on the night in question and attempted to flirt with two lesbian women who expressed disinterest and said not to touch them, according to a transgender patron named Aaron Diveley. The men reportedly became upset, walked away, and then returned less than a minute later to begin shooting.

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Police know who shot this gay man to death. They still haven’t arrested him.

“We looked around at each other and I thought, this guy just killed our friend and he is not in handcuffs?”

“Two young men came in, started hitting on people that were not open to being hit on. And after being reprimanded and told to, like, step down, they grew increasingly violent, and did what they did,” Dively told CBS News.

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The shooting occurred during a double celebration for a band’s new recording and someone’s birthday. Six people were injured, and a 35-year-old cis male musician named August Golden was killed. Another victim suffered injuries to his intestine, liver, and kidney, which had to be removed, CBS News reported.

While Boyd was identified by DNA on a cigarette butt found at the venue, he has neither been located nor arrested. Officers recovered nine discharged bullet casings from two different guns in a yard neighboring the venue, court documents say.

“Witnesses identified the shooters as two males who were not part of the community, but who had come to the concert and interacted with multiple people in the minutes before the shooting,” court documents said, adding that some witnesses overheard the suspects “utter derogatory epithets about the sexual orientation of the concert attendees.”

Burris and Boyd now face one charge of aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder and six counts of felony assault with a firearm. Minnesota lacks a hate crime charge, but legal penalties can be enhanced if prosecutors prove that the crime was motivated by bias. It’s unclear if prosecutors will do so and if they’ll charge Burris as an adult since he was 17 years old at the time of the shooting.

A 21-year-old trans woman named Quinn McClurg told the news website Reckon, “[Do-it-yourself punk] shows are one of the only regularly safe places for trans folks, queer folks, punks, and everybody to get together and socialize. 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.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told reporters, “This shooting at what should have been a joyous event rocked our LGBTQIA+ community and increased fear among a community that is too often already under attack.”

A GoFundMe for the victims has raised over $211,000 as of Thursday afternoon.

In 2023, Minnesota passed several pro-LGBTQ+ laws, including one declaring itself as a sanctuary state for trans youth seeking gender-affirming care, one banning ex-LGBTQ+ conversion therapy, and a repeal of its outdated sodomy ban.