Club Q shooting victims Sheriff’s Office and club owners

Survivors of the Club Q shooting, along with family members of those killed, have filed two lawsuits, alleging that better security measures could have prevented the tragedy.

Anderson Lee Aldrich killed five patrons and employees of the Colorado Springs gay bar and injured 19 others when he entered the nightclub and opened fire on the evening of November 19, 2022.

Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and related offenses, as well as 74 federal hate and weapons crime charges and was sentenced to a total of 60 life sentences. and an additional 2,398 years in prison.

One of the lawsuits, filed Nov. 17, 2024, targets the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and accuses law enforcement of failing to enforce Colorado’s “red flag” law, which prohibits people considered by a judge as being at risk of committing acts of violence. to purchase or possess firearms.

The lawsuit, which claims county officials had “numerous reasons” to ensure Aldrich could not access the weapons under Colorado’s 2019 law, does not seek a specific monetary amount.

“Law enforcement missed critical opportunities to prevent this tragedy,” the lawsuit says. “The shooter had a history of threats and violent behavior that clearly warranted intervention.”

Five months before the shooting, Aldrich – who has since come out as non-binary, although some skeptics believe his stated gender identity is intended as a form of trolling intended to anger the LGBTQ community – was arrested by the bureau from the El Paso County Sheriff for threatening his grandparents.

Aldrich was accused of vowing to become “the next mass killer” while stockpiling weapons, body armor and bomb-making materials. However, Aldrich’s mother and grandparents, who were likely witnesses to testify about Aldrich’s behavior, failed to cooperate with law enforcement authorities and prosecutors, leading to to a dismissal of the charges.

Following the Club Q shooting, investigators discovered that Aldrich created two websites where they posted hateful content about the LGBTQ community. Aldrich also allegedly shared recordings of 911 calls during the 2016 mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, which left 49 people dead.

Due to El Paso County’s conservative political leaning, local officials denounced the state’s “red flag” law after its passage, with the El Paso County Board of Commissioners passing a resolution declaring the county “Second Amendment Preserved County.”

According to the lawsuit, at the time of the shooting, the sheriff’s office had not filed a petition seeking the removal of a single person’s firearms in the county, as Colorado Public Radio reported. The plaintiffs claim that “deliberate inaction” on the part of the Sheriff’s Office “allowed the shooter to continue to gain access to the firearms, thereby directly enabling the attack on Club Q.”

Aldrich’s earlier encounter with law enforcement and the sheriff’s refusal to use the “red flag” law prompted state lawmakers to revise the law to allow prosecutors, medical providers to health and educators to request “extreme risk protection orders,” thereby increasing the number of people. the police and immediate family members – who can intervene if they think someone is a danger to themselves or others.

Natalie Sosa, a spokeswoman for El Paso County, told CBS affiliate KPAX that the county does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit also targets the Club Q ownership group, alleging the club reduced on-site security to save money in the year before the shooting. According to survivors, the club initially had a “robust security team” of at least five security guards, including one with a loaded gun, but later reduced that to just one non-security guard. armed, who was also forced to serve as a bartender. food runner.

“He did his best to protect his clients, but found himself facing an impossible task,” the lawsuit says. “Club Q presented itself as a “safe space” for LGBTBQIA+ people. But it was a facade.

The second lawsuit, filed by survivor Barrett Hudson, also targets both the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and the Club Q ownership group. Hudson was shot seven times by Aldrich and was forced to s Lie on the floor for 30 minutes while waiting for help.

Hudson still has three bullets in his body because doctors determined it was too dangerous to remove them. He says he lives in constant pain and can no longer hold the construction job he had before the shooting.