Five killed before nightclub attacker is subdued with his gun

FIVE people died and 25 others were injured in the United States after a 22-year-old gunman opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at a gay nightclub in Colorado, before he was subdued by “heroic” patrons who struck him with his own weapon.

Colorado Springs mayor John Suthers said the attack at Club Q ended when someone grabbed a handgun from the suspect, named as Anderson Lee Aldrich, and hit him with it, before holding him down until police arrived.

The club called the incident a “hate attack”, but investigators were still determining a motive and whether it would be charged as a hate crime. El Paso County’s district attorney said charges against suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich will likely include first-degree murder.

The suspect in the shooting on Saturday night used an AR-15-style semi-automatic weapon, a law enforcement official said. A handgun and additional ammunition magazines also were also recovered.

The attack ended when a patron grabbed a handgun from the suspect and hit him with it, Mr Suthers said.

The person who hit the gunman had him pinned down when police arrived, the mayor added.

“Had that individual not intervened, this could have been exponentially more tragic,” Mr Suthers said.

Aldrich was in custody on Sunday, being treated for injuries. He was arrested in 2021 after his mother reported that he had threatened her with a home-made bomb and other weapons, authorities said.

No explosives were found, authorities said at the time, and The Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs reported that prosecutors did not pursue any charges.

Of the 25 people injured at Club Q, at least seven were in a critical condition, authorities said on Sunday.

Some people were hurt trying to flee, and it was unclear if all of the victims were shot, a police spokesperson said.