Survivors of LGBTQ+ club shooting say the deaths and trauma could’ve been avoided in lawsuits
FILE – Rev. Paula Stecker of the Christ the King Lutheran Church stands in front of a memorial set up outside Club Q following a mass shooting at the gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., Nov. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert, File)
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DENVER (AP) — Adriana Vance collected herself in front of the cameras, two years to the day after her son was killed in the mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, a murder that lawsuits allege could have been prevented by law enforcement and the club’s owners.
The two lawsuits, formally announced at a press conference Tuesday, target Club Q’s owners for not having enough security, and the El Paso County commissioners and the former sheriff for not using the state’s red flag law after clear warning signs that the shooter intended to commit violence.
One of the club’s owners has denied the claims, and El Paso County has declined to comment.
Anderson Aldrich killed five people at the club, including Vance’s 22-year-old son. But the mother couldn’t bring herself to accept her son’s death in the shooting’s wake.
“They have someone else’s son, they don’t have my Raymond,” Vance said she told herself, pausing to push down tears. “My Raymond, he’s going to call.”
Then he was lying in the coffin, as if sleeping peacefully. “I saw him. And I touched him. And I kissed his cold body,” said Vance. “After that day I would wake up in a state of terror, and I still do, just not as much.”
Vance’s remarks at the press conference came after survivors of the shooting detailed the daily consequences they still lived with — the knee-jerk reaction to flee when a balloon pops, the constant pain of three bullets still lodged in a survivor’s body, the profound loneliness of carrying such trauma.
One of the lawsuits was filed by survivor Barrett Hudson, and the other was filed by a group of victims and relatives, including Vance.
Those killed in the shooting were Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump and Ashley Paugh.
Families and victims accused the nightclub’s owners of winnowing Club Q’s security detail from five or more people to just one leading up to the shooting, and not taking necessary steps to prepare for an eventuality like this one.
“Club Q advertised itself as a ‘safe place’ for LGBTQIA+ individuals. But that was a façade,” read both the complaints, which accuse the club of negligence among other allegations.
Club Q management did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but co-owner Matthew Haynes issued a statement to Denver7 in which he denied all accusations, saying the blame rests with Aldrich and the “system that enables easy access to weapons of war.”
“The pain of this tragedy is something we all carry with us every single day,” Haynes said in the statement.
A central focus of both lawsuits was the El Paso County commissioners’ and the then-sheriff’s political stance against Colorado’s red flag law passed in 2019, which allows law enforcement to temporarily take someone’s firearm if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others.
The county commissioners and sheriff saw the red flag law as an encroachment on gun rights and vowed to “actively resist” the bill, according to court documents.
Aldrich was arrested in 2021, accused of kidnapping and threatening to kill his grandparents, reportedly saying they would become the “next mass killer.” Aldrich, who uses they/them pronouns, was also accused of collecting ammunition, bomb-making materials, firearms and body armor, according to court documents.
Authorities did not attempt to remove Aldrich’s weapons using a red flag law, the lawsuits allege, and “This deliberate inaction allowed the shooter continued access to firearms, directly enabling the attack on Club Q.”
The suits separately allege negligence and wrongful death against the El Paso County commissioners and former sheriff, Bill Elder. Voicemails and texts left for phone numbers listed for Elder were not immediately returned.
Natalie Sosa, a spokesperson for El Paso County, said it does not comment on pending litigation.
The trauma of that night two years ago for shooting survivor Ashtin Gamblin is indelible. She said pyrotechnics at a music concert sent her yelping and trying to flee as people stared awkwardly and her mother covered her ears. Charlene Slaugh, another survivor, said on countless nights she cried herself to sleep.
“I remember what it felt like to wonder if I’d survive,” Slaugh said. Other survivors shared the same feeling. “These memories don’t just disappear, they are woven into the fabric of my life now.”
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Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.