A gunman shot and killed five people at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs on Saturday night.
The shooting suspect, named by police as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, also injured more than two dozen people at Club Q before a patron pinned him on the ground until police arrived. Two barmen who worked at the club were killed in addition to 3 still unnamed others. Of the 25 people injured, seven were in critical condition as of Sunday night.
The suspect, who is reportedly the grandson of California state lawmaker Randy Voepel, was arrested by El Paso County police last year and charged with felony menacing and first-degree kidnapping after he allegedly threatened to harm his mother with a homemade bomb and other weapons. The case was never prosecuted.
The shooting in Colorado took place hours before the LGBTQ club was due to host an all-ages drag brunch event to celebrate Transgender Day of Remembrance. Similar events have been the target of increasingly vitriolic attacks by far-right groups and Republican lawmakers in recent months who baselessly claim they are being used to groom children.
“Club Q is a safe haven for our LGBTQ citizens,” Colorado Springs Police Department Chief Adrian Vasquez said in a statement. “Every citizen has the right to feel safe and secure in our city, to go about our beautiful city without fear of being harmed or treated poorly. I’m so terribly saddened and heartbroken.”
Hellbound and Down 