Crisis at Club Q
On Nov. 19, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where five people were killed and at least 20 others were injured. The gunman was identified as Anderson Aldrich, according to Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrien Vasquez. Aldrich used a long AR-15-style rifle and two additional firearms were found at the scene. The violence reportedly lasted for almost five minutes. The shooting ended when Aldrich moved through the bar and towards a patio where he encountered Richard Fierro, a U.S. Army veteran. Fierro, who said he went into “combat mode,” charged across the room and tackled Aldrich to the ground, causing the rifle to fall out of his hand and preventing further harm. He was assisted by two other patrons, one man who moved the rifle away to safety, and a transgender woman who used her high heels to help disable the shooter and hold him down until the police arrived (New York Times). The Colorado Springs police received numerous 911 calls from the scene starting at 11:56 p.m., officers were dispatched at 11:57 p.m. and an officer arrived at midnight where Aldrich was detained a few minutes after. Vasquez reported that a total of 39 patrol officers responded, and Fire Department Captain Mike Smaldino said 11 ambulances were sent to the scene (Cable News Network). Senior Beck Vogel-Frey feels that people should do everything in their power to reduce the chances of another situation like this repeating.
“I think gun control and education on the LGBTQ community would be a start to help decrease the likelihood of [an event like the Club Q shooting] repeating,” Vogel-Frey said. “However, I think the impact of the shooting will increase the likelihood of events like it. Other people like [Aldrich] will see that [he] was brave [enough,] or stupid enough, to do this, and they will get the courage to do it as well.”
Following the Club Q shooting, Colorado District Court Judge Robin Chittum ordered Aldrich’s arrest documents to be released to the public after a motion by the District Attorney’s office. These documents revealed that Aldrich was previously arrested in June 2021 for allegedly keeping his own grandparents hostage in a basement and a bomb threat (National Public Radio). In accordance with Colorado law, the charges from the 2021 case were dismissed and all related records were sealed. The DA’s office had to say that these records did not exist until Judge Chittum’s order in December 2022. For this reason, Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen was unable to prosecute Aldrich on those charges. After the Club Q shooting, Aldrich was put in custody of the El Paso County Jail. His most recent court hearing in December 2022 charged him with 305 criminal counts which include first-degree murder and attempted bias-motivated murder against members of the LGBTQ community (Colorado Public Radio). Sophomore Skye Smithman deeply condemns Aldrich’s actions and is not fully content with the media coverage on this matter.
“Overall, I have only seen the media condemn Aldrich but I do not see it as much as I should,” Smithman said. “It is good to see popular opinion being against the monster that took the lives of innocent people, regardless of gender and sexuality. There could have been more media attention on the shooting since not a lot of people knew about it.”
On the day of the shooting, the club was reportedly hosting a drag night with a drag brunch to follow the next day, with the intention of celebrating Transgender Day of Remembrance. Many people also reported that local LGBTQ people in Colorado Springs were already on high alert for homophobic and transphobic behaviors; others expressed that prior to the shooting, Club Q was the only place they had felt safe in the city (Teen Vogue). In a 2019 survey conducted by One Colorado – an advocacy organization for the LGBTQ community – more than 71% of people in Colorado reported experiencing anti-LGBTQ verbal abuse, and more than 15% reported experiencing anti-LGBTQ physical abuse. Furthermore, Colorado Springs is a historically homophobic city where many residents face homophobic encounters. For instance, Emmitt Davis, a transgender man, was sitting in his fenced-in yard with his partner when two men came running through his yard and started yelling homophobic slurs in 2019. When Davis attempted to stand up for himself, one of the men punched Davis, fracturing his nose (The Denver Gazette). Therefore, many patrons who were at Club Q the night of the shooting were not too surprised by the matter (KQED Radio). Junior Max Conrad feels upset and frustrated about how the incident at Club Q affects the LGBTQ community.
“We live in a world where LGBTQ people cannot go to clubs without fear of never coming home,” Conrad said. “What happened in Colorado is nothing short of a tragedy, but even after five people are dead, a large percentage of the population still holds hatred for queer people. The massacres will not stop until we put an end to this hatred.”
