The man suspected of killing five people and wounding 17 others at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub will face multiple murder and hate crime charges, court records show.
Police have identified the deceased victims as Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh and Derrick Rump.
One of the men who took down the shooter, former Army Maj. Richard Fierro, told CNN: “My daughter (and) wife should have never experienced combat in Colorado Springs, and everybody in that building experienced combat that night, not to their own accord, but because they were forced to.”
Fierro, who served four tours in combat zones, said he did what he had to do to protect his family and friends.
Anderson Aldrich is facing five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, according to an online docket in El Paso County courts. The district attorney for El Paso County, Michael Allen, said formal charges have not been filed and the ones on the docket are preliminary and might change.
Court records show Aldrich, who is hospitalized, is being held without bail. The docket does not reflect whether Aldrich has retained an attorney. Allen said after Aldrich is moved from a medical facility to jail, he will have an initial appearance by video.
While police haven’t released more details about the motive, the massacre at Club Q – a longtime safe haven for the local LGBTQ community – has shattered a sense of security.
‘I feared I was not going to make it out’
What started as a joyous night of laughter and dancing Saturday devolved into a scene of terror when a gunman walked into the club and immediately opened fire.
“I looked up and saw the outline of a man holding a rifle at the entrance of the club – probably about 15 feet from me,” said Michael Anderson, who was bartending at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado, late Saturday night.
“I ducked behind the bar, and as I did, glass began to spew all around me.”
Within seconds, his friend and bar supervisor Daniel Aston was fatally wounded.
Ed Sanders said he saw the gunman, but couldn’t make out the words the man uttered as he opened fire by the door.
“It seemed like he was firing from his waist, but it was happening so fast, I didn’t really grasp what was going on until I got shot in the leg,” Sanders told CNN.
Authorities identified Fierro and Thomas James as two people who took down the gunman.
Fierro, who did three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan during his 15 years in the Army, told CNN’s John Berman in an emotional interview that he went into combat mode.
Fierro said when he took on the shooter, he pulled him down and as they both went for the gun, the “AR” flew in front of the shooter. Another man, apparently James, helped Fierro with subduing the suspect. He ended up by the gunman’s head and Fierro said he told him to push away the gun that had been used.
“I was in (fighting) mode,” Fierro told CNN. “I was doing what I do down range… It came in handy.”
Fierro said he got the gunman’s handgun and started beating him with it.
“I found a crease between his armor and his head and I just started wailing away,” he said. “I told him I was going to kill him” because he tried to kill Fierro and his wife and daughter and friends, Fierro said.
Fierro said he wasn’t thinking of himself when he chased down the shooter.
“I’m not a hero. I’m just a guy that wanted to protect his kids and wife, and I still didn’t get to protect her boyfriend,” he said.
Vance was Fierro’s daughter’s boyfriend, according to Fierro.
Fierro’s wife, Jessica Fierro, said their daughter Kassy broke her knee and she herself had bruises to the right side of her body.
Her husband was covered in blood and had injuries to both hands, his knees and ankles, she posted.
Anderson said it took a moment for him to process the horror. When he did, he thought his life was over. “There was a moment in time where I feared I was not going to make it out of that club alive. I have never prayed so sincerely and quickly in my life, as I was anticipating that outcome and afraid of that outcome,” Anderson told CNN on Monday.
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The gunshots stopped as he was praying, he said.
“I saw what I believe what was probably the gunman lying on the ground, getting beat up and kicked and yelled at by two very brave people,” Anderson said.
Police rushed to the scene around midnight and saw the gunman had been subdued, Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said.
More than a dozen people shot
The tragedy fell on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance – observed in honor of the lives of trans people lost to anti-trans violence and hatred.