DC Pride & March for Our Lives Interrupted by Gun Violence Fears
Capital Pride Alliance, aspired "to celebrate, educate, support, and inspire our multifaceted communities.”The organizers expected up to half a million spectators.
A sea of people lined the parade route and most people were having an exceptional time. However, an estimate of onlookers was unavailable at the time of publication.After the parade, thousands of people gathered in areas popular with the LGBTQ+ community, including Dupont Circle, which radiates from a large traffic circle with a city park and a fountain in the middle.
The large crowd milled about and continued celebrating its first Pride celebration since 2019. Then, suddenly, people rushed over park benches and dove into ditches backed by bushes and the roadways as if to escape a threat.A commotion caught the attention of Will Smink and a group of coworkers from a local TV station while they were enjoying dinner at The Admiral just across Dupont Circle."[W]e suddenly saw a mass exodus of people walking quickly and running from Dupont Circle as if they were in a panic," the news director tells The Advocate. "Several of my coworkers grabbed out their phones and started recording as the good journalists they are."Video shared on Twitter shows the ensuing chaos. "For a brief second, it felt very intense and frightening because this is the first situation I've ever been in like this.
