COLORADO SPRING, Colo. (KUSA/CNN) – At least five people are dead and 25 more injured after a shooting erupted inside a Colorado LGBTQ club just before midnight Saturday.
Police say two brave club patrons are heroes after they took action and stopped the shooter’s violent rampage from possibly turning even more tragic.
A sign expressing “Love Over Hate” now sits amongst a growing memorial of flowers, mementos and notes outside of Club Q in Colorado Springs.
A night of letting loose turned to tragedy late Saturday after a deadly shooting has now rocked the city’s tight-knit LGBTQ community.
Joshua Thurman was inside Club Q when he heard gunshots. “It was so scary,” Thurman said. “I heard gunshots, broken glass, bodies.”
Michael Anderson was bartending when the shooting erupted. “There was a moment in time where I feared I was not going to make it out of that club alive,” Anderson said. “And I have never prayed so sincerely and quickly in my life, as I did in that moment.”
President Biden responded to the attack in a statement referencing the 2016 massacre at Pulse Night Club in Orlando. He said, “While no motive in this attack is yet clear, we know that the LGBTQI+ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years. We saw it six years ago in Orlando when our nation suffered the deadliest attack affecting the LGBTQI+ community in American history.”
The FBI is now assisting local authorities who are investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said, “We’re getting a clearer picture as witnesses are talked to and things like that but you’ll be getting a much clearer picture over the next couple of days.”
“I think it’s fair to say based on the facts, it’s very hard to conceive a situation where the motive wasn’t generated by hate,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
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