Law enforcement officers walk through the parking lot of Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub, in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday.
Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images
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Law enforcement officers walk through the parking lot of Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub, in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday.
Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images
A gunman killed five people and injured at least 25 others at a LGBTQ nightclub late Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Authorities identified 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich as a suspect and arrested him shortly after arriving at the scene at the Q Club. Police are still investigating the gunman’s motives and whether the attack constitutes a hate crime.
The attack comes six years after the deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community in modern US history, when a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
Here’s what we know about the Colorado Springs shooting.
Two patrons submit to the gunman
Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said the gunman started shooting as soon as he entered the nightclub. At least two people helped to subdue gunman, which the sheriff describes as a hero.
“We owe them a huge thank you,” he said at a news conference on Sunday.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers tell NPR that one of the patrons “took the pistol from [shooter] and hit him with a shotgun to disable him.”
Q Club wrote on Facebook that the patrons’ “rapid response” helped put an end to what it called a hate attack and prevented many people from being killed or injured.
Police said the first call came at 11:57 p.m. local time, then the first police arrived three minutes later. The suspect was arrested at 12:02 a.m. MT.
Authorities found two firearms, including a long rifle that the shooter used in the attack.
Club Q has been a safe haven for Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ community
Q Club, that opened in 2002, serving the Colorado Springs area with drag shows, karaoke, and dance parties for those 18 years of age and older.
Both Vasquez and Colorado Governor Jared Polis called the club a “safe haven” for LGBTQ residents of Colorado Springs.
“Club Q has been a safe haven for the LGBTQ community in an area that hasn’t always been easy,” said Polis, who became first openly gay governor in the United States in 2018, said at a church service Sunday. “It’s a place where we can gather, dance, and share in the fun.”
Jessy Smith Cruz hugs Jadzia Dax McClendon the morning after a mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Sunday.
Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images
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Jessy Smith Cruz hugs Jadzia Dax McClendon the morning after a mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Sunday.
Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images
Colorado Springs Police Department Lieutenant Colonel Pamela Castro said the department was shocked by the attack, because the nightclub was not a problem spot for the city.
Club Q announced that it will be closed until further notice.
The shooting took place on the eve of Transgender Remembrance Day
The gunman targeted the club on the eve of Transgender Remembrance Day, which takes place annually on November 20 to honor victims of anti-transgender violence.
Memorial Day began in 1999, when LGBTQ rights advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith helped organization Beware of transgender women Rita Hester and Chanelle Pickett of Massachusetts. Both are women of color.
“No one I spoke to at the time knew who Chanelle Pickett was, even though the trial of her killer, William Palmer, ended just a few months before Hester died.” Ann Smith wrote in 2012. “It became clear to me then that we had forgotten our past, and – to paraphrase George Santayana – would certainly repeat it.”
Flowers and a “love better than hate” sign lie near an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday, where a shooting occurred Saturday night.
Geneva Heffernan/AP
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Flowers and a “love better than hate” sign lie near an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday, where a shooting occurred Saturday night.
Geneva Heffernan/AP
Biden and lawmakers react, condemn anti-LGBTQ hate crimes
Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo., expressed grief to hear of the shootings in his state and called for more protection and support for the LGBTQ community.
“As we seek justice for this unimaginable act, we must do more to protect the LGBTQ community and stand firm against discrimination and hatred in all its forms,” he said. write on Twitter.
President Biden said in a statement: “There is no place for violence, hatred and bigotry in America. Tragically, however, as last night’s attack in Colorado Springs reminds us, there is so much of it. LGBTQI+ people in the United States — and around the world — continue to face unscrupulous attacks.”
Biden urges Congress passed the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Bill stalled in Senate after passing House of Representatives in February 2021.
In June, Biden Signed the first major gun safety law passed by Congress in nearly 30 years, a month after the mass shooting at a Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas killed 19 children and two adults. The law expands background checks to people between the ages of 18 and 21 looking to buy a firearm and expands existing laws to prevent people convicted of domestic violence from owning guns.
But he said much more must be done.
“We need an assault weapons ban to remove weapons of war from the streets of America,” Biden said in a White House press release.
Juliana Kim contributed reporting.
