Colorado Nightclub Shooting Witness: I Will Not Let This Incident 'Put Me Back Into A Closet'

I was behind the bar working when I heard loud gunshots. At first I didn't know what it was, but I looked up and saw the silhouette or shadow of a guy holding what looked like a rifle or some type of long gun. gun and at that point the shots were still ringing out so I ducked behind the bar and once I was on the ground glass was flying around me and at that point I was really scared for my life, what was your plan? , I mean, what are they? You are thinking? Did you make a plan to hide?

Would you go fight

this

guy? What was going through your mind? I definitely didn't want to fight

this

guy, I'm sure I'm not really like that, but I just wanted to get it. outside of there I was afraid I was trapped I wanted to get out of that building so I ran to the patio and I hid between there is a space between a cabin and a wall and I crouched right there on the ground between that place and a group of individuals had managed to open a locked door to an outside patio and everyone filed out and then had to jump over a privacy fence to escape the club once everyone exited the locked door and kept it closed.

They were holding him up so that no one else, the shooter or anyone else, could get out. I didn't know it, but if I had run to try to get out, I wouldn't have been able to get out, so I was essentially trapped in that little guy. little room um and I had a coworker with me and another woman with me and we were all huddled together praying it would end if he walked in that room, all I saw I stuck my head over the top of the booth and I saw like the barrel of a gun as if he were looking out in the patio.

I only saw the tip and it was at that moment that I legitimately thought they were going to shoot me like I didn't know. I felt like a fish. stuck in a barrel I didn't know where to go I didn't have my phone I didn't have anything so I was so scared I couldn't talk to my mom or anyone you know That scary situation, after that happens you still hear the gunshots and then They stop so once I saw the rifle come into the room I just put my head down and prayed, about 10 seconds later it was as quiet as I could get.

What you heard was the dance music you know echoing through the club, but it was actually very eerie because normally when you hear people you know having a good time, there was dead silence there, so it was quiet for about a minute or two. before. I chose to get up and I didn't want to be stuck there anymore. I needed to do something I needed to get out of there, so I got up and walked in and that's when I saw the shooter getting hit by those same guys. very very brave customers or whoever was on top of him at that moment they were kicking him he was lying on the ground they were kicking him punching him yelling at him and I don't know who it was but I'm very grateful I'll be grateful for whoever it is for the rest of my life because this could have been very different for me, yes, do you know people who were shot and lost their lives?

Yes, yes, I do, I do and that is very, very The difficult reality today for me and the rest of this community is grieving those losses and not knowing who else was lost and waiting for that final report to come out on our victims. last night. Something I was talking about with Alicia is that this community is hurt, but it doesn't feel like it's broken. No, can this community ever heal? I mean, can Club Cube be the same as it was before this? Yeah, I guess I don't want to speak for Club Q, that's not legitimately my business, but I

will

speak on behalf of this community, it's one that I've been a part of on and off for the last two and a half years and I left for a year and I came

back

and they welcomed me with open arms and so I can sell them that this community is strong, this community is resilient and the LGBT community historically has never had things easy, our history is very affected by murder and hate crimes and with the struggle, they really struggle, but we persist and I have come this far and we

will

continue to persist and we will go even further.

I will not let this

incident

put me in the

closet

again. We will continue to live with pride and I will make sure to support my community as much as necessary so that we all stay united and we can all rise again thank you foreigner