It said its prayers were with victims and families, adding: "We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack." "Club Q is devastated by the senseless attack on our community," the club posted on its Facebook page. In a statement, Club Q termed the shooting a hate attack. The FBI said it was assisting but said the police department was leading the investigation.Īlthough a motive wasn't yet clear, nor were the gender identities of the victims, the incident came as anti-gay rhetoric has intensified by extremists. In addition to the drag show, Club Q's Facebook page said planned entertainment included a "punk and alternative show" preceding a birthday dance party, with a Sunday "all ages brunch."ĭrag events have become a focus of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and protests in recent months as opponents, including politicians, have proposed banning children from such events and falsely claim they're being used to "groom" children.Īttorney General Merrick Garland was briefed on the shooting, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said. "Flags will be lowered for 5 days to remember each of the 5 individuals who lost their lives in this senseless tragedy," Polis wrote.Ĭlub Q is a gay and lesbian nightclub that features a "Drag Diva Drag Show" on Saturdays, according to its website. Polis on Sunday also ordered that all flags on public buildings be flown at half-staff from Monday morning until sunset Saturday. "We are eternally grateful for the brave individuals who blocked the gunman, likely saving lives in the process, and for the first responders who responded swiftly to this horrific shooting," Polis said. Jared Polis, who was in COVID-19 isolation, called the shooting "horrific, sickening, and devastating" in a statement, and said that "every state resource is available to local law enforcement in Colorado Springs." We cannot and must not tolerate hate."Ĭolorado Gov. "We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people. Yet it happens far too often," he said in a statement. "Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence. He also lamented that the shooting joins other violent attacks on the LGBTQ community, including the 2016 attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and against transgender women. In response to the shooting, President Biden again called on elected officials to take action to stop gun violence and reiterated the need for a ban on assault weapons. The violence is the sixth mass killing this month and comes in a year when the nation was shaken by the deaths of 21 in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. My first thought for me, what I can't stop thinking about is the visuals of the evening of the bodies, of the blood, of the broken glass, of the carnage in the wreckage and seeing a safe place turned into a war zone." And I went to approach them and they weren't too, too vocally responsive, so I wasn't sure what to do. And I saw someone I knew lying there in that broken glass, having been shot in the neck. "I got out and a few feet away, I saw someone lying on the grounds and the door from the dance floor - the patio was a glass door, all that glass had been shattered," Anderson said. It was horrible."īartended Michael Anderson told CBS Colorado Springs affiliate KKTV that it had started out as a "normal night," and when he heard three bangs, he saw the "outline of a gun" in the suspect's hands. I'm not sure if they were workers or customers. "We heard the assailant getting beat up by people that were inside Club Q. "So, I heard a total of three rounds of shots," Thurman said.
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