Five people are dead and at least 25 injured in a mass shooting that took place in a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub.

The incident happened just before midnight Saturday when a suspect identified by police as Anderson Lee Aldrich entered Club Q and began firing at patrons of the LGBTQ+ nightclub.

Eyewitnesses and police later told media that club patrons engaged and disarmed Aldrich before more people could be killed.

The incident comes six years after the Pulse Nightclub shooting when Omar Mateen entered an Orlando LGBTQ+ nightclub and killed 49 people. Equality Florida, the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in Florida, referred to the Colorado Springs murders as an “all too familiar horror.”

Club Q released a statement calling the massacre a hate attack and praising the “quick reactions of heroic customers” that subdued Aldrich before he could wound any more people gathered to enjoy a Saturday night out in a place of peace.

A patron identified as Joshua Thurman told KOAA that he thought the gunshots were part of “the music, so I kept dancing. Then I heard another set of shots, and then me and a customer ran into the dressing room, got on the ground and locked the doors and called the police immediately.”

This is heartbreaking:

“As a Black kid it’s taboo to be gay, so coming here, this is one of the first places that I felt accepted to be who I am. It’s supposed to be our safe place. A community shouldn’t have to go through something like this for us to come together,” Thurman said. “This is our home. This is our space. We come here to enjoy ourselves, and this happens?”

 

The shooting took place during the weekend marking the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors members of the trans community have have been killed in violent attacks.

The massacre marked the 601st mass shooting in America in 2022. The 602nd occurred a few hours later when one person was killed and six injured from a shooting in Philadelphia, Mississippi, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Local media has alleged that Aldrich was the “21 year old man” in this crime report who was arrested for a 2021 bomb threat. The suspect’s mother told police he had made threats with “a homemade bomb, several weapons and ammunition.” An editor’s note indicates no formal charges were filed and the case “has since been sealed.” The note was added after Aldrich called the paper to complain.

Club Q has indicated that coloradogives.org is the official site for donations: