Five people were killed and at least 18 were injured when an assailant opened fire in a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs late Saturday night, according to officials. The assailant was subsequently apprehended by guests.
The suspect was identified as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich during a press conference held by Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez on Sunday morning.
Vasquez described the nightclub, Club Q, as a “safe haven for our LGBTQ citizens” and stated that the suspect opened fire on patrons as soon as he entered the establishment. As he advanced deeper into the building, at least two individuals encountered and fought him, preventing him from firing. According to the police chief, the suspect employed a long rifle, and officers discovered at least one more firearm at the scene.
Sunday morning, at least two of the injured individuals were in critical condition. At least five were hospitalized for treatment of injuries largely affecting their limbs, while two were treated and released. It is unknown whether all 18 individuals were shot, according to the police.
In response to questioning from reporters, officials stated that it was too soon to say whether or not the shooting will be investigated as a hate crime. District Attorney Michael Allen, however, stated that “activities designed to instill fear among particular communities will not be condoned in our society.”
The atrocity is the sixth mass murder this month and comes a year after a school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, in which 21 people were killed, shook the nation.
Governor Jared Polis of Colorado, who was not present at the press conference because he is in COVID-19 isolation, described the shooting as “horrific, horrible, and terrible” in a statement and stated that “every state resource is available to local law enforcement in Colorado Springs.”
“We are eternally grateful to the courageous individuals who stopped the shooter, so likely saving lives, and to the first responders who responded quickly to this awful shooting,” stated Polis.
Extremists’ anti-gay vitriol has risen since the most recent occurrence. Club Q described the incident as a hate crime in a statement.
“Club Q is horrified by the senseless attack on our community,” the club’s Facebook page reads. It stated that its prayers were with the victims and their families and added, “We appreciate the quick actions of the heroic customers who subdued the gunman and put an end to this hate attack.”
Saturdays at the gay and lesbian nightclub Club Q, according to its website, there is a “Drag Diva Drag Show.”
In addition to the drag show, the Club Q Facebook page lists a “punk and alternative show” preceding a birthday dance party and a “brunch for all ages” on Sunday.
Colorado Springs, a city of approximately 480,000 people located approximately 70 miles south of Denver, is home to the United States Air Force Academy as well as Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical Christian ministry.
In November 2015, three people were killed and eight were injured at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the city. According to the authorities, a man opened fire because he wanted to wage “war” against the clinic because it performed abortions.
The motive for Saturday’s shooting was initially unknown, but it evoked memories of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which killed 49 people. And it occurred in a state with a history of infamous mass murders, including at Columbine High School in 1999, a movie theater in suburban Denver in 2012, and a supermarket in Boulder the year before.
In June, 31 members of the neo-Nazi organization Patriot Front were arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and charged with plotting a riot at a Pride event. Extremist groups may interpret anti-gay rhetoric as a call to action, according to experts.
The previous month, a fundamentalist Idaho pastor advised his small Boise church that the government should execute gay, lesbian, and transgender persons, which was consistent with the preaching of a fundamentalist Texas pastor.
According to the Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the United States, there have been 523 mass killings since 2006 resulting in 2,727 deaths as of November 19.