NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In the wake of the Orlando, Florida, mass shooting, New Orleans is stepping up security to protect the large crowds that will fill the French Quarter for the city's annual gay pride celebrations.
On Thursday, city officials announced large numbers of police officers and state troopers will be on duty throughout the weekend. Events are scheduled to begin Friday.
Jeffrey S. Sallet, the FBI's special agent in charge in New Orleans, said there were no credible threats against the events, but he urged the public to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and report it to law enforcement.
"If you see something, say something," Sallet said at a news conference. "Please, do not be afraid" to tell authorities, he said.
In the French Quarter, gay bars and nightclubs on Bourbon Street were beefing up security, too.
"When this happened on Sunday, we immediately upped our security," said Mike Bryant, who runs a popular gay bar and nightclub, the Bourbon Pub.
He said the nightclub now has two armed guards at its entrances during the busiest times. On Wednesday, the 45 staff members also got training to deal with an active shooter.
"It's sad that we had to do it, but I felt it was important," Bryant said.
Chuck Robinson, the owner of Napoleon's Itch, a gay bar and nightclub across the street from Bryant's business, said he, too, had added staff and security. But he wasn't prepared to have armed guards — not yet, at least.
"Guns make me nervous," he said.
He said the Orlando shooting was a nightmare scenario he has worried about taking place inside his nightclub ever since he opened it 13 years ago.
"I'm horrified that it finally happened," he said. "New Orleans is known for its good times. I feel it makes us a target, particularly when you add the LGBT thing."
Other cities also are beefing up security for gay pride events taking place across the nation after the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu said New Orleans must be prepared for an attack, in large part because it's a world-renowned tourist destination that hosts large events.
"We are," he said, "in this new age of terrorism and violence a soft target."
The mayor also said New Orleans "stands in solidarity" with Orlando and feels its pain because the city experienced a similar tragedy when a gay bar in the French Quarter was set on fire in 1973, killing 32 people. The UpStairs Lounge fire took place on June 24.
Most of those killed were trapped by burglar bars on three front windows. A survivor said he believed someone threw an inflammable liquid on the wooden stairway to the crowded second-floor lounge and lit it. The arsonist was never caught.
"It is engrained in the LGBT community. It is part of our history," said Sarah Jane Brady, executive director of Forum for Equality, a Louisiana nonprofit that advocates on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
She said the response to the 1973 fire was horrible, with family members refusing to claim victims' remains and church leaders declining to commemorate the dead.
"The show of solidarity today shows how much we have moved forward," she said.
– by AP Reporter Cain Burdeau
