An LGBTQ+ center in Springfield, Missouri, was forced to temporarily close earlier this week after bullets etched with an anti-gay slur were found outside its door.

As local NPR station KCUR reported, executive director Aaron Schekorra found the two bullets outside the GLO Center on Monday morning. One had the word “DIE” etched on it in all caps, while the other bore a familiar anti-gay slur beginning with the letter F.

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“At that point, you know, we realized that these were left — they were left intentionally in front of our building using language that’s meant to attack our community,” Schekorra said.

As KCUR notes, authorities in Utah found bullet casings reportedly etched with gaming, anti-fascist, and internet meme references near the site of anti-LGBTQ+ Christian nationalist activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination earlier this month. The etchings were initially erroneously reported to have included words expressing “transgender ideology.” Following an attack on an ICE detention center in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday, which killed one detainee and seriously injured two others, authorities there also found bullets reportedly etched with “anti-ICE messages.”

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In the weeks since Kirk’s death, the presidential administration and its allies have explicitly used the tragedy and the revelation that the suspect was in a relationship with a transgender partner to gin up anti-LGBTQ+ animus and to falsely characterize the trans community as a “domestic terrorist threat.”

A spokesperson for the Springfield Police Department told KCUR on Monday that the GLO Center case had been assigned to a detective and an investigation was underway. Schekorra told KY3 News that the center does have security cameras, and they’re hoping that footage will provide a lead in the investigation.

This is not the first time GLO has been targeted. As Schekorra told KY3, in 2017 someone “took a shot” at the center’s storefront. This week’s threat led Schekorra and his colleagues to close the center on Monday, canceling meetings that were scheduled that day and all youth meetings for the whole week.

But on Tuesday, the center released a statement via Facebook confirming that its September 27 Pride on C-Street event would move forward as planned, following a careful review of safety procedures. Precautions at Saturday’s event will include road blocks, private security, and trained volunteers, as well as off-duty police officers. The center urged attendees to be aware of their surroundings, avoid confrontation, and report concerns to security personnel

“Fear wants to isolate us,” the statement read. “Pride brings us back together. We refuse to let intimidation decide how we gather, care, or celebrate.”

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