A NY Woman Has Been Charged Over Threats to "Shoot Up" LGBTQ+ Businesses in Colorado

Also: New York Woman Charged with Making Threatening Calls to Denver-Area LGBTQ Businesses (U.S. Attorney's Office - District of Colorado)

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Source: them

A NY Woman Has Been Charged Over Threats to “Shoot Up” LGBTQ+ Businesses in Colorado

The alleged calls are part of a wave of copycat threats since the Club Q shooting.

BY SAMANTHA RIEDEL
May 26, 2023

A New York woman is facing federal charges after allegedly threatening to “shoot up” multiple LGBTQ+ businesses in Colorado last year.

In a press release Wednesday, officials for the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced that 40-year-old Sharon Robinson had been arrested and charged with multiple counts of making threatening calls to at least four LGBTQ+ businesses in the Glendale and Denver areas.

The indictment alleges that only weeks after the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs last year that left five dead and 25 more injured, Robinson called four unnamed businesses that “cater to the LGBTQ community” to leave threatening, slur-filled messages, saying “you’re gonna be shot up like Club Q” and she herself would “shoot your bar up.”

According to the statement, the grand jury that indicted Robinson found that she “intentionally selected her victims because of their actual and perceived sexual orientation,” which means that the threats meet the legal prerequisite to considered hate crimes, as the Denver Gazette noted. Making even a false bomb or shooting threat is a federal crime in the U.S., and is considered a felony if the perpetrator does so “willfully and maliciously or with reckless disregard for the safety of human life.” Each felony conviction in this case would carry maximum penalties of a $5,000 fine or five years in prison, before any hate crime enhancements are applied.

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Read more: https://www.them.us/story/violent-threats-phone-calls-club-q-arrest

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Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Colorado

New York Woman Charged with Making Threatening Calls to Denver-Area LGBTQ Businesses

Wednesday, May 24, 2023
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Colorado

DENVER – The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Sharon Robinson, age 40, of New York, has been arrested and charged by indictment with making multiple threatening calls to LGBTQ businesses in Denver and Glendale.

According to allegations in the indictment, the defendant called at least four businesses catering to the LGBTQ community just a few weeks after the tragic shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. The defendant made various threatening comments in each of the calls, including threats to “shoot your bar up” and “you’re gonna be shot up like Club Q.” The threats also included anti-LGBTQ slurs. The Grand Jury made a special finding that the defendant intentionally selected her victims because of their actual and perceived sexual orientation. The United States Sentencing Guidelines recommend higher sentences for such crimes.

The defendant was scheduled to make her initial appearance in Brooklyn, New York, on May 24, 2023.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Denver Police Department, and the Glendale Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Bryan Fields is handling the prosecution.

The charges in the indictment are allegations and the Defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

CASE NUMBER: 23-cr-274

Updated May 24, 2023

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/new-york-woman-charged-making-threatening-calls-denver-area-lgbtq-businesses