More information on the weekend shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, which left five people dead and 25 others hurt, was due to be released by police on Monday. Human rights advocates believe the attack to have been a hate crime.
There may be more information on the clubgoers who stopped the shooting late Saturday night at Club Q in Colorado’s second-largest city and were hailed by police as heroes.
By noon, according to police, there will be a news briefing (1900 GMT). Authorities declared on Sunday that they were looking into whether the incident had a hate-related motive.
They named the perpetrator as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich and claimed that he carried out the quick but lethal attack with a “long rifle.” According to authorities, numerous guns were discovered at the location.
Police did not name the shooter’s victims or specify whether or not they were shot when they subdued the shooter shortly after he barged in just before midnight.
According to Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, one of the guests snatched the shooter’s revolver, pistol-whipped him, and was still on top of the suspect, holding him down, when police arrived.
Read More: Gunman Kills 5 People In A Colorado LGBTQ Nightclub Before Being Caught By Patrons
“It was really interesting. It took place quickly. By 12:02, this person was entirely handicapped. That was greatly influenced by these customers’ intervention, “The Times was told by Suthers.
Colorado Springs police probe motive in LGBTQ nightclub shooting https://t.co/YgVVdIdN4t pic.twitter.com/a2pY3EtmuT
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The shooting “has all the indications of being a hate crime,” Suthers added.
President Joe Biden stated in a statement that LGBTQ persons have “been victims to horrendous hate violence in recent years” despite the fact that no cause had been determined.
The shooting brought to mind the 2016 Orlando, Florida, Pulse nightclub tragedy, in which a shooter opened fire and killed 49 people before being fatally shot by police.
Many people referred to Club Q, a long-standing establishment in a tiny strip mall, as a sanctuary for the LGBTQ community.
According to a Colorado Public Radio interview with Daniel Aston’s mother, Sabrina Aston, one of the fatalities was identified as the 28-year-old transgender bartender and dancer who worked at the club.
Sabrina Aston remarked, “He was the happiest he had ever been.” “He was happy, successful, and surrounded by friends. Simply unbelievable, He still had a ton of life left to give to us, his friends, and himself.”
Since a number of threats and violent attacks have been made against LGBTQ persons and events in recent months, anxiety has increased among many LGBTQ communities in the United States.
According to Kevin Jennings, CEO of the gay rights organization Lambda Legal, “Such events are all too common in America’s toxic mix of bigotry and absurdly easy access to firearms.”
Colorado has a sordid history of mass killings, which includes the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, a 2012 shooting spree inside a movie theater in a Denver suburb, and a 2017 attack on a grocery that left 10 people dead.
In 2015, a mass shooting occurred in Colorado Springs when a pro-life gunman opened fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic, leaving nine people injured and three dead.
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