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An Army Veteran Says He Went Into ‘Combat Mode’ to Disarm Club Q Gunman


COLORADO SPRINGS – Richard M. Fierro said he was sitting at a table at Club Q with his wife, daughter and friends on Saturday, watching a tug-of-war show, when a sudden gunshot tore through the nightclub. His instincts from four combat deployments as an Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan came into play immediately. Fight back, he told himself.

In an interview at his home, where his wife and daughter are still recovering from their wounds, Fierro, 45, who left the Army in 2013 as a major, according to military records incident, described working through the chaos at the club, solving problems. gunman and beat him bloody with the gunman’s own gun.

“I don’t know what exactly I did, I just went into battle mode,” Fierro said, shaking his head. “I just know I have to kill this guy before he kills us.”

Authorities are holding 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich in custody on charges of murdering five people and saying 18 others were injured in a scuffle at the club that lasted only minutes. Officials said Sunday that the death toll could have been much higher had the bar’s patrons not stopped the gunman.

Mr. Fierro’s description of what happened during those moments at Club Q matched the accounts of police, city officials and club owners, who reviewed the security footage. about the massacre. When they were shown a photo of Mr Fierro on Monday, one club owner, Nic Grzecka, said he looked like the man who took down the gunman.

“I don’t even know his name,” Mr. Grzecka said. “I would love to meet him.”

Fierro said when the shooting began, he fell to the floor, dragging a friend with him. As the bullets fired, he saw the gunman move across the bar toward a door leading to the courtyard where dozens of bar patrons had fled. Mr. Fierro, who served in the army for 15 years, said he ran across the room, grabbed the handle on the back of the gunman’s armor, dragged him to the floor and jumped on top of him.

“Was he shooting at the time? Is he going to shoot? I don’t know,” Mr Fierro said. “I just know I have to take him down.”

The gunman, who Mr Fierro estimated weighed more than 300 pounds, sprawled on the floor, his military-style rifle falling out of reach. Mr. Fierro began to attempt to get the rifle, but then saw that the gunman also had a pistol.

Mr Fierro said: “I took the gun from his hand and started hitting him repeatedly on the head.

As the fight continued, he said, he shouted for the club’s other patrons to help him. A man grabbed a rifle and moved it to a safe place. A dancer pulled on high heels and stepped on the gunman. During that time, Fierro said he repeatedly punched the shooter in the head while the two men shouted obscenities at each other.

When police arrived minutes later, the gunman was no longer struggling, Fierro said, and he feared he had killed him. The suspect in the shooting was taken into custody and remained hospitalized as of Monday afternoon.

Mr. Fierro said his body was covered in blood when police arrived, and officers restrained him and handcuffed him. He said he was held in a police car for more than an hour, and screamed and begged to be released so he could see what had happened to his family.

Mr. Fierro, who owns a local brewery, said that during combat deployments in the Army, he had been shot and had seen trucks bombed by the roadside in his platoon. His records show he has been awarded the Bronze Star twice. The combat experiences still haunt him, he said, and the psychological and physical toll of the deployments is why he left the Army.

He said he never thought he would face such violence at home.

“I was fed up with war,” he said.

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