UNITED STATES: A gunman opened fire in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs on Saturday, resulting in at least five fatalities. The gunman claimed five lives and at least 25 were injured before being halted by “heroic” clubgoers.
The suspect, identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, was taken into custody shortly after the shooting began.
22-year-old Aldrich entered the club around 11.55 p.m. on Saturday, and he immediately started shooting.
The reason behind the attack was not immediately apparent. Police said the inquiry would look at whether the shooting was a hate crime and whether more than one individual was involved, but they did not offer a motive for the incident.
Joe Biden, the president, released a statement on Sunday saying, “We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against the LGBTQ community.”
On Saturday, at 23:57 (06:57 GMT), the first emergency call regarding an active shooter was received, as stated by the police.
The suspect was caught in the club. Two guns were discovered at the site, and the perpetrator is suspected of having used a long rifle. A representative for the fire service claimed that casualties had been taken to hospitals quite swiftly.
Hospital officials reported on Sunday that several of the injured remained in severe condition. As per William Plauth, the hospital’s chief medical officer, five patients at Colorado Springs’ Penrose hospital had injuries to their extremities, and two of them had been discharged.
David Steinbruner, the facility’s chief medical officer, reported that ten patients were being treated at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central.
The FBI in nearby Denver stated that it was assisting local authorities with the incident.
At the time of the incident, the club was hosting a dance party, and on Sunday night, a performance event was scheduled to honour Transgender Day of Remembrance.
The club is an important part of the area’s gay population. He thinks he knows one of the dead.
John Suthers, the mayor of Colorado Springs, described the situation as tragic.
He declared, “We are a strong community that has demonstrated resilience in the face of hate and violence in the past, and we will do so again.”
2015 saw a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs that resulted in three fatalities and nine injuries.
Additional mass shootings have occurred in the state of Colorado, most notably the one that claimed ten lives in a supermarket in Boulder in 2021.
The White House issued the following statement from President Biden: “Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence.” Yet it happens far too often. “We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQ people.”
Colorado Springs’ Club Q posted on Facebook that it was “devastated by the senseless attack” on its community.
Comments and condolences have poured onto Club Q’s Facebook page from all across the world.
One lady said that the club had long been “like a home” to her and that the news had left her “absolutely shattered.”
“Club Q has been the heart of our community for so long, and I am devastated and angered that this happened,” another comment added.
In 2016, a shooting at the Pulse LGBT club in Orlando, Florida, resulted in 49 fatalities and more than 50 injuries. At the time, it was the bloodiest mass shooting in American history.
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