Colorado Springs shooter stopped by ‘heroic’ nightclubbers: ‘It could have been much worse’
People hold a vigil at a makeshift memorial near the Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs after the deadly mass shooting. (Getty Images/Scott Olson)
The Colorado Springs shooting suspect was reportedly “disabled” by patrons of Club Q, potentially saving multiple lives.
Five people were killed and at least 25 injured after a shooter, named by police as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, opened fire in Club Q, an LGBTQ+ venue in Colorado Springs.
Two of the victims have been named as bartenders Daniel Davis Aston and Derrick Rump.
Colorado Springs’ mayor John Suthers has said that the gunman was taken out by patrons of the club, preventing him from taking more lives.
Suthers said one customer grabbed the attacker’s gun and hit him with it to subdue him, and that they and another patron pinned the gunman down until police arrived.
Suthers told CNN: “The call came into the police at 11:57pm. Police were on the scene by 12:00 – an amazingly quick response.
“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.”
Governor of Colorado Jared Polis, who is gay, added that the attack was “horrific, sickening and devastating”, praising the “brave individuals who blocked the gunman”.
Club Q confirmed on its Facebook page that bar patrons had “subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack”.
Joshua Thurman, a witness to the deadly Colorado Springs shooting, says Club Q was a “safe space” for the local LGBTQ+ community. (Getty)
Joshua Thurman, who escaped the deadly shooting, told media that Club Q had been the “only safe space” for the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado Springs.
Thurman said he was at the club to celebrate his birthday, when he heard gunshots in the venue.
He told NBC News that he heard people “yelling, shaking, crying” as he hid in the club’s dressing room with other patrons.
“I’m thinking at any second this man could just bust through the door and kill us if he really wanted to,” he said.
After explaining that the club was a “safe space” for queer people in the city, he asked “what are we going to do now?”
“What are we going to do now? Where are we going to go?” He told NBC. “Yeah, we can rebuild and come together – but what about those people that lost their lives for no reason [and] the other 18 that were injured?”
A vigil was held in Colorado Springs, close to Club Q, on Sunday (20 November) to remember the victims of the horrific shooting.
Hundreds of mourners carrying candles reportedly attended the vigil, along with Club Q co-owner Matthew Haynes, who described the LGBTQ+ venue as a “safe haven”.
“Never would we think this, this level of hate,” he said.
