First Published: November 2022
This is an OutUK Archive Item and so some of the links and information may be out of date.
| 5 killed in shooting at LGBTQ club in Colorado USA | |
| Five people are dead and 25 injured after a gunman entered Club Q, a Colorado Springs LGBTQ club, Saturday and began firing with a long rifle. The gunman is in custody after being subdued by at least two people inside the club. |  |
| President Joe Biden said that he and first lady Jill Biden are praying for the families of the those killed in the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Joe Biden released a statement reacting to the shooting at the LGBTQ nightclub and condemned the violence. Club Q was hosting a “Drag Divas” show followed by a DJ night on Saturday, according to its Facebook page. Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez called Club Q “a safe haven for our LGBTQ citizens.“ President Joe Biden said in his written statement: “While no motive in this attack is yet clear, we know that the LGBTQI+ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years. Gun violence continues to have a devastating and particular impact on LGBTQI+ communities across our nation and threats of violence are increasing,“ He added: “Jill and I are praying for the families of the five people killed in Colorado Springs last night, and for those injured in this senseless attack.“ Pete Buttigieg the United States Secretary of Transportation, himself a proud gay man tweeted: “The violent news from Colorado Springs is sickening and heartbreaking - the more so because there is a pattern. We can not, will not, allow hate to win. We must end this in our time. No rest until all of us, including all of us in the LGBTQ+ community, can be, and feel, safe.“ A statement on the Club Q Facebook page thanked “the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack“. Army veteran, Richard Fierro was the brave man who quickly realised he had to take down the gunman to save lives, and did so single-handedly. A heroic trans-woman, so far un-named, then stomped on the gunman to keep him pinned to the floor until the Police arrived. Richard Fierro said the 5 deaths which included his daughter's boyfriend, 22-year-old Raymond Green Vance — were a tragedy for him personally and for the broader community. Governor of Colorado Jared Polis, who is gay, praised the “brave individuals who blocked the gunman, likely saving lives in the process“. “Colorado stands with our LGTBQ Community and everyone impacted by this tragedy as we mourn,“ he wrote in a Facebook post. Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers described the intervention of several club-goers as an “incredible act of heroism“. “The call came into the police at 11:57pm. Police were on the scene by 12:00 - an amazingly quick response,“ he told CNN. “This incident was over by 12:02, and that's largely because of the intervention of at least one, possibly two, very heroic individuals who subdued this guy... appears to have taken his handgun with them... and used it to disable him... not shoot but hit him with the gun, and disable him. But for that, as tragic as this incident is... it could have been much, much worse but for these heroic actors,“ the mayor added. The suspect in custody has been named as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22. There's still no known motive for the attack although he was charged on Monday with five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of bias-motivated crime-causing bodily injury. He will appear in court on Thursday. A man with the suspect's name and age was the subject of a June 2021 report of a bomb threat, according to a news release from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office. The outcome of that case was not immediately clear. Colorado's governor, Jared Polis has ordered that flags on public buildings across the state be lowered for five days in honor of the five people killed in the shooting. The identity of those who lost their lives has been released. They were Daniel Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38 and Raymond Green Vance, 22. This latest horrific shooting follows on from the death of 49 people at Orlando's Pulse nightclub in 2016. That horrible night is remembered by us all. Map Photo: Huebi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
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