Tragedy at LGBTQ nightclub | Full report from Colorado Springs

breaking news on Denver 7 a Saturday night turned tragic in Colorado Springs at least five people are dead now 18 people are injured after a shooting at an

lgbtq

nightclub

it is called a safe haven for community members if that It took place overnight and now that the feeling of security is gone I'm Jessica Crawford and I'm Katie LaSalle Thank you for being with us This story has been developing all morning We know that the police have the shooter in custody and that there is no active threat to the public We currently have team coverage for you. Our co-leg bord is at the Colorado Springs Police Operations Center and our Brandon Richard is outside Club Q.

Right now we're going to start with Colette, who was at the press conference that concluded. Just 30 minutes ago, what can you tell us about the suspect? Many details were released about the suspect, but before we get to that 22-year-old man, I really want to focus on what Club Q means to this community. I did several stories with them in years past during the pandemic, they were also a shining light in bringing more

lgbtq

focused groups here to open locations here in this city, so what happened there is absolutely tragic, you could feel that heaviness in the room when we were directed by the police chief, Fourth Judicial District District Attorney Michael Allen, we also heard from the fire departments, as well as a couple of other people from the police department, but the name of the Suspect is Anderson Lee Aldrich, he is 22 years old.

Police say he used a long rifle. In this crime they couldn't tell us if it was necessarily a high capacity magazine at this point in the investigation, what they could tell us was a little more of a timeline, so the initial call for service was at 11 56 last night. the first officer was dispatched a minute later, they arrived on scene at 12, the suspect was taken into custody at 12:02, so all of that happened in a span of just over five minutes, of course this is still something that It has shaken this community to its core. We do not get any identity of the victims in this case, we know that five have been declared dead.

The families of the victims will, of course, be identified first before revealing any of those names at this time and whether or not this was all part of a hate crime. Under investigation, this club is not a problem, it is a safe haven for members of our community, so we are all shocked and saddened that this happened here last night. Now the police could not give us the suspect's date of birth at this time. but if you search for his name, you will find old news from last summer about a bomb threat in Lorson Ranch, which is in southern El Paso County, linked to a person with the same name, whether or not he is the same person as the police would not identify. let's say at this point in the investigation like I said his

full

name Anderson Lee Aldrich we also know that apparently when he walked into Club Q two people confronted him, the police actually talked about how those two people probably saved more lives with their actions, they also said they know that Those two people they believe were not hurt, so I hope those two survived.

Cola, thank you for that perspective on what the club meant to the people of that area and that comes from your many years of working in Colorado Springs, thank you for being here, let's talk to Brandon Richard, who is at the scene of the shooting, has Been there all morning, Brandon, you talked to someone who says they were at Club Q last night, yeah, that's right, Jessica, we just talked to Joshua Thurman, he says. that he is a go-go dancer but he was at this club last night just enjoying the night with some friends when this shooting occurred.

I'll get out of the way because you can see that he's actually he's still here in the scene. It's the gentleman in the brown hoodie who said he came here to see if he could get his car, of course, everyone who was at the club last night when this happened, their cars are still here in the parking lot, the Club parking lot. Q now. Club Q, as we said, this is an LGBT

nightclub

, it is located in the center of this shopping center. It's a little hard for us to see the front of Club Q here because we have another building with more businesses in front of it, um. but from our point of view we can see several police officers and several police cars at the scene.

We learned a lot more information from that earlier press conference with the police. That eight o'clock press conference we learned that the first 9-1 call. -I arrived just before midnight again, the police arrived and found dozens of victims, many of them had to be transported in the back of police cars, others were transported in ambulances, there were several ambulances here and again the police did not speak for a reason right now. but as you can imagine, people who are familiar with this club, those who go to this club, see it as a kind of refuge for the lgbtq community, including Joshua, who I spoke to just a few minutes ago.

I think we have a little bit of their sound that we can share with you this is our home you know this is our space we come here just to enjoy and this happens it was so scary I heard gunshots bodies breaking glass it was a horrible experience, um, Joshua had to pause several times. times just to compose yourself can you imagine how horrible it must have been to go through something like that you are in a club you are enjoying the night with your friends you hear gunshots he says he didn't know what those gunshots were at first he assumed it was just the music and then it was It became clear moments later that it was actually a shooting, that's when he and his friends took cover, of course, and the police arrived just a few minutes later.

The Governor of Colorado called this a horrible, disgusting, devastating incident, but again investigators, including the FBI, remain here on the scene, they will be here almost all day collecting evidence and trying to figure out what happened and how it could have happened. For now, we are live. in Colorado Springs Brandon Richard Denver 7. Brandon, thank you for your absolutely heartbreaking

report

and condolences have been pouring in all morning from our governor, leaders and local officials regarding this

tragedy

. Club Q, where the shooting occurred, also issued this statement overnight, they said. Club Q was devastated by the senseless attack on our community.

Our prayers and thoughts are with all the victims, their families and friends. We appreciate the quick reactions of the heroic customers who subdued the gunman and put an end to this hateful attack. Now it's still too early. The investigation process to officially determine if this is officially a hate crime or attack, but we know that the FBI has been on the scene since the early hours of the morning trying to uncover a motive for the suspect. This situation in Colorado Springs will continue to develop throughout the year. Tomorrow we will keep you informed on air online and in the app we will be back