At least 5 people are dead and 25
injured after a 22-year-old gunman opened fire just before midnight
Saturday inside an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Police have identified Anderson Lee
Aldrich as the suspect.
According to reports, Aldrich, who used
a long rifle in the shooting, was subdued by patrons at Club Q.
“We owe them a great debt of thanks,”
Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez is quoted by CNN as
saying.
“Club Q is a safe haven for our LGBTQ
citizens,” Vasquez said. “Every citizen has a right to feel safe
and secure in our city, to go about our beautiful city without fear
of being harmed or treated poorly.”
Club Q said in a statement that it was
“devastated by the senseless attack on our community” and thanked
the “heroic customers” who “ended this hate attack.”
Police have not revealed a motive for
the shooting.
The bar planned to hold a drag show on
Sunday to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance.
The New York Times reported that
Aldrich was arrested in June 2021 in connection to a bomb threat.
LGBTQ rights organizations reacted to
the tragic shooting, calling it part of an “epidemic of gun
violence” against the LGBTQ community.
“We are absolutely heartbroken by
last night’s deadly shooting at an LGBTQ+ club in Colorado
Springs,” said Kelley Robinson, incoming president of the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC). “We know anti-LGBTQ+ hate is on the rise and
gun violence impacts our community at devastating rates. We are also
observing Transgender Day of Remembrance today and over the last 10
years two-thirds of the more than 300 fatalities we’ve tracked
involved gun violence. We must rise against hate in the strongest
possible terms, we must stand together in solidarity and love with
our LGBTQ+ family in Colorado Springs and demand an end to this
epidemic of gun violence. From Pulse to Colorado Springs to so many
other lives stolen from us – this has occurred for far too long.
HRC mourns the lives taken at Club Q last night and extends our
deepest strength, love and condolences to the loved ones impacted.”
The National Center for Lesbian Rights
(NCLR) said in a statement that the “hateful rhetoric directed”
at the LGBTQ community “cannot be separated from the tragedy we
grieve today.”
President Joe Biden said that he was
praying for the victims of Saturday's shooting and their families.