On the night of November 19–20, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at Club Q, a gay bar in Colorado Springs, Colorado, during a dance party on the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. According to police, a gunman entered the club armed with an AR-15–style rifle loaded with a 60-round drum magazine, a Polymer80 handgun, additional ammunition magazines, and body armor, and began firing at employees and patrons. Five people were killed — Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Raymond Green Vance, Ashley Paugh, and Derrick Rump — and 25 others were injured, 19 of them by gunfire.
The attack was stopped when a U.S. Navy petty officer, Thomas James, grabbed the barrel of the shooter's rifle and struggled with him; he was shot twice in the torso during the struggle. U.S. Army veteran Richard M. Fierro then joined the fight, wrestled the handgun away, and struck the shooter repeatedly. A transgender woman, Drea Norman, also came out of hiding to help subdue the gunman. Police received the first 911 call at 11:56 p.m. on November 19, and the suspect was in custody within about five minutes. Thirty-nine patrol officers, 34 firefighters, and 11 ambulances responded, and the injured were transported to three area hospitals.
The shooter was identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, of Colorado Springs. Aldrich was injured while being restrained and was hospitalized before being charged. In June 2021, Aldrich had been involved in a standoff after threatening to bomb a house and holding relatives hostage, resulting in kidnapping and menacing charges that were later dismissed and sealed; no red-flag order was sought under Colorado's 2019 law. Aldrich's attorneys stated in court documents that Aldrich identifies as non-binary.
Aldrich was initially charged with ten felony counts, later expanded to 305 counts including first-degree murder, attempted murder, and hate crimes, and then to 317 counts. On June 26, 2023, Aldrich pleaded guilty to state charges and was sentenced to five consecutive life terms plus an additional consecutive 2,211 years, without possibility of parole. On January 16, 2024, federal prosecutors charged Aldrich with 50 federal hate crimes. On June 18, 2024, Aldrich pleaded guilty to the federal charges and was sentenced to 55 concurrent life sentences without parole, plus a consecutive 190 years.
The shooting prompted national political reaction, congressional testimony from survivors and the club's co-owner, and scrutiny of Colorado's red flag law and anti-LGBTQ political rhetoric, alongside vigils and memorials held in Colorado Springs.
Credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited ChildrenEditorial useSourceOVERTURNEDListen
