On Saturday night, at around 11:57 pm, police in Colorado Springs received several 911 calls and responded to Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub, encountering another mass shooting scene.
The alleged shooter, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was taken into custody after killing five customers at the nightclub and injuring at least 25.
Club Q was showing its weekly Saturday night drag show and several patrons had attended.
Aldrich was arrested shortly after officers arrived on the scene.
The suspect entered the club, began shooting with an AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon, and was also carrying a handgun.
He was confronted by two brave customers, one of whom grabbed the suspect’s handgun, hit him with it, and was able to disarm him and stop him until the police arrived, according to Colorado Spring’s mayor, John Suthers, and the Colorado Springs Police Chief, Adrian Vasquez.
“We owe the two patrons a great debt of thanks,” the mayor said.
Authorities are still investigating whether the attack was a hate crime. The FBI and Colorado police were at the scene. A handgun and ammunition magazines were left behind.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis called the incident “horrific, sickening, and devastating.”
Aldrich had a criminal history and had been arrested in 2021 for threatening his mother with a homemade bomb, but no explosives were found and the charges against him were dropped.
The incident occurred on the eve of Transgender Day Remembrance, an annual event that takes place every November 20 to celebrate transgender people who have died due to hate and violence.
Colorado has witnessed a series of mass shootings over the past few years. In 2021, a shooter killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, and in 2012, a shooter opened fire in a movie theatre in Aurora, killing 12 people and injuring at least 70.
President Joe Biden released a statement in response to the massacre, acknowledging the hate attacks the LGBTQ community has received in the recent past, with gun violence continuing to cause devastating effects in communities across the nation.
“Places that should be like safe havens of acceptance and celebrations should not be turned into violence and terror places. We must drive out the inequities that lead to violence against the LGBTQ community. We cannot and must not tolerate hate. Today, Jill and I are praying for the families who have lost their loved ones during this horrific act and those injured,” Biden said.
