Two ‘heroes’ saved lives in gay club gun attack
Suspect subdued by clubbers after five killed, 18 injured
Two “heroic” clubbers overpowered a gunman who killed five people and injured 18 others at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, police said yesterday.
A police chief said the pair, one believed to be a military veteran, undoubtedly saved lives by subduing the gunman within minutes of the first shots.
The suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich.
The gunman entered Club Q during a party, armed with an AR-15 and wearing body armour, before opening fire on the crowd.
Witnesses described scenes of chaos and panic as a salvo of gunfire rang out shortly before midnight. “I was on the dance floor and heard about four or five shots,” said Joshua Thurman 34.
“At first, I thought it was just the music, and I kept dancing. Then I heard more shots and saw the flash from the muzzle of the gun, and ran to the back, to a dressing room. I was with another customer, and we just locked the door and laid down on the floor.”
“At least two heroic people inside the club confronted and fought with the suspect and were able to stop him from continuing to kill and harm others,” said police chief Adrian Vasquez. “Their actions clearly saved lives,” he said, adding the alleged gunman was in custody within five minutes of the police being called to the scene.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who was the first openly gay man to be elected governor of a US state, described the shooting as “horrific, sickening and devastating”. It is feared the death toll could increase, with at least two of those in hospital having sustained “life-threatening injuries”.
John Suthers, Mayor of Colorado Springs, said: “We are eternally grateful for the brave individuals who blocked the gunman, likely saving lives in the process.”
Authorities said yesterday that the shooting had not yet been officially classified as a hate crime but that murder charges would be filed.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 600 mass shootings — defined as where four or more victims have been killed or injured — in the United States this year.
Gay venues have previously been attacked. In June 2016, a gunman opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and wounding more than 50. And in Seattle, 700 people escaped injury in 2013 after Musab Mohammed Masmari, 30, who had advocated “exterminating” gay people poured petrol on the stairs of a gay club and set it alight. — Telegraph Group Ltd