The Orlando Police department confirmed it is actively investigating an assault that occurred Saturday outside the former gay nightclub Pulse. Locals have for weeks gathered outside Pulse, the site of a 2016 mass shooting, to protest the state’s decision last month to paint over a rainbow-colored crosswalk that was installed to memorialize the shooting victims.
At least four people have been arrested for using chalk to color back in the rainbow colors of the crosswalk — on charges of interference with a traffic control device — but video posted to social media Saturday appears to depict the first act of violence since the crosswalk controversy took hold. Video footage posted to Facebook and Instagram shows a man appearing to kick a protester at the site of the crosswalk. The protester, later identified as Zane Aparicio (who goes by the name Cait), told WFTV the confrontation came after verbal threats from the perpetrator, who fled after the assault and has not been identified publicly.
Cait reportedly told Orlando police that a man and female passenger drove up to the crosswalk site just south of downtown Orlando in a Tesla, which in video footage appears to be a dark gray color. The man exited the vehicle and allegedly began messing with LGBTQ+ flags that protesters had posted around the crosswalk and nightclub site just off Orange Avenue, witnesses said.
“He marched, with purpose, to the corner and grabbed the Trans flag and the Pride flag out of where we had them posted up and threw them into oncoming traffic,” fellow witness Andrew Daniel told WFTV Sunday, as locals gathered for an impromptu “Stop the Violence” rally at the crosswalk site.
The crosswalk, first installed in 2017, was first painted over by the state Department of Transportation last month, with officials claiming the rainbow colors were noncompliant with a new department policy. The updated policy, outlined in FDOT’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, aims in part to ensure roadways “are not utilized for social, political, or ideological interests.” Orlando city officials have since sent a letter to FDOT, asking for an exemption to the policy in order to restore the rainbow colors.
“The Original Design of the Pulse Crosswalk was created and installed in 2017 to honor and memorialize the 49 victims who lost their lives in the horrific attack, then the most deadly on United States soil, at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando,” Dyer wrote in a letter to FDOT, dated Aug. 28, 2025. “The Original Design was not intended to be, nor do we believe it to be any form of political speech, nor does it include any words or messages or symbols.”
The purpose of the crosswalk, to memorialize victims of the Pulse nightclub tragedy, has nonetheless resonated with dozens of community members who have since rallied with elected officials at the site to protest the state’s decision to paint over it. Records show the state approved the initial installation of the rainbow crosswalk back in 2017 and even pitched in to help repaint it as recently as last year. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, however, claimed at a recent news conference that the rainbow colors posed a safety hazard.
“One, [from] people just seeing it, but then you have some people who may disagree with the message and then they’re incentivized to try to peel out or something,” the Republican governor said.
The incident of assault this past Saturday at the crosswalk came at a particularly tumultuous time, occurring just days after the high-profile killing of 31-year-old conservative activist Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA. Kirk, an ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot in the neck at a campus event at Utah Valley University last Wednesday, sparking condemnation against politically-motivated violence from politicians affiliated with both major parties.
Students at the University of Central Florida, and other universities across the country, reportedly received emailed threats against Black students the day after the Utah shooting. UCF officials, in their own email to students, said they did not deem the threats to be credible, but nonetheless said they were taking threats seriously and would increase police presence on campuses.
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