Man threatens to 'kill every gay person I can' at US Pride Festival

The organisation is taking extra steps to ensure safety during the event

(AFP/Getty Images)

A man has been arrested for allegedly telling St Louis Pride organisers that he would “kill every gay person” at their upcoming festival.

Edward A Terry, 49, was charged Tuesday with a terrorist threat to PrideSTL, a local LGBT+ group that organises the city’s Pride festival. Terry is now in custody.

Court documents obtained by the St Louis Post Dispatch say he allegedly sent an email from a fake account to the the festival’s organisers saying he would "come to pride fest with my guns to kill every gay person I can before I kill myself."

PrideSTL’s manager contacted the FBI, and police tracked the fake account to Terry’s mobile phone number.

Terry told police he used the name of a woman he used to live with at an address he was recently kicked out of to create the email.

He has a pending theft case in nearby Creve Coeur, according to court records. His cash bail was set at $20,000.

Matt Harper, president of PrideSTL, said the organisation is taking extra steps to maintain safety during the group’s event, set to take place June 29 through June 30, in light of the threat, including allowing police to march in uniform during the festival’s parade.

Previously, organisers said uniformed officers would not be allowed, as the parade coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, a reaction in New York City’s Stonewall Inn to police harassment of the LGBTQ community that fuelled the global LGBTQ rights movement.

The organisation told the Washington Post that they could not comment further on the investigation as it happens.