CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) -
Though we are hundreds of miles away from Orlando, the tragedy there has hit home in the Tri-State.
Many are still in shock after the Pulse Night Club massacre that left 50 dead and over 53 injured.
In Ohio, Kentucky and across the country, feelings of sadness have overcome the gay community as everyone tries to come to terms with the shooting.
Employees at The Dock Nightclub are holding a vigil Sunday night at 11 p.m. People will come together in solidarity and light 50 candles to remember each victim of the shooting in Florida.
"We've have come so far as a community, as a nation and I'm feeling, this takes us back three steps when we got when we've gone two steps forward," said DJ Charlee McGinnis.
Stan Goodin, who bartends at Bar 32 in Covington, said he knows someone who was inside the Orlando club last night.
"I had friends that were down there on vacation," said Goodin. "The first thought to my mind is my God are they dead? Are they hurt?"
Goodin said he has been bartending for 43 years and has never heard of such a tragedy.
"And the thing you know I start getting messages," he said. "Three of them and another one, then another one, so four of them I know is alive"
There's a candle lit at the bar with a black ribbon to honor the victims of the shooting.
"Well first it was twenty, that I was like wooh' cause when it went up to fifty that's when I cried then when I heard 53 more in the hospital then it made me cry more," stated Goodin.
Nigel Cotterill is the owner of Below Zero Lounge, a popular gay night club in OTR.
He said he's been in touch with the Cincinnati Police Department to see how to evaluate things after the shooting in Orlando.
"It's tragic all around," said Cotterill. "It's not that they targeted a gay bar there all sorts of people in that bar probably same as here."
He said he doesn't think the shooting should deter people from gay establishments or even Cincinnati Pride festivities that will be held later this month.
"I don't think we should panic because that's what the terrorist was after, making people change their lives," he said. "As a community we are strong and we've been strong for years and will continue to be strong. You don't let terrorist win you don't let hate win."
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(FOX19 NOW/Frankie Jupiter)
