Club patrons stopped shooter, police say
Colorado mayor lauds ‘incredible act of heroism’
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. • As bullets tore through a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing five people and wounding many more, one patron who had been partying moments before rushed into action, grabbing a handgun from the suspect, hitting him with it and pinning him down until police arrived just minutes later.
That customer was one of at least two whom police and city officials credit with stopping the gunman and limiting the bloodshed in Saturday night’s shooting at Club Q. The violence pierced the cosy confines of an entertainment venue that has long been a cherished safe spot for the LGBTQ community in the conservative-leaning city.
“Had that individual not intervened, this could have been exponentially more tragic,” Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told The Associated Press.
“It’s an incredible act of heroism,” the mayor said Monday on NBC’S Today.
Police identified the suspected gunman as 22-yearold Anderson Lee Aldrich, who was in custody and being treated for injuries.
He is facing five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, court records show.
A law enforcement official said the suspect used an Ar-15-style semi-automatic weapon, but a handgun and additional ammunition magazines also were recovered.
Already, questions were being raised about why authorities didn’t seek to take Aldrich’s guns away from him in 2021, when he was arrested after his mother reported he threatened her with a homemade bomb and other weapons.
Though authorities at the time said no explosives were found, gun control advocates are asking why police didn’t try to trigger Colorado’s “red flag” law, which would have allowed authorities to seize the weapons his mother says he had. There’s also no public record prosecutors ever moved forward with felony kidnapping and menacing charges against Aldrich.
Suthers said the district attorney would file motions in court Monday to allow law enforcement to talk more about any criminal history “that this individual might have had.”
Of the 25 injured at Club Q, at least seven were in critical condition, authorities said. Some were hurt trying to flee, and it was unclear if all of them were shot, a police spokesperson said. Suthers said there was “reason to hope” all of those hospitalized would recover.
Authorities were called to Club Q at 11:57 p.m. Saturday with a report of a shooting, and the first officer arrived at midnight.
Joshua Thurman said he was in the club with about two dozen other people and was dancing when the shots began. He initially thought it was part of the music, until he heard another shot and said he saw the flash of a gun muzzle.
Thurman, 34, said he ran with another person to a dressing room where someone already was hiding. They locked the door, turned off the lights and got on the floor but could hear the violence unfolding, including the gunman being subdued.