Surviving victims of the 2022 mass shooting at the LGBTQ+ bar Club Q, along with the mothers of those who were killed, have filed two lawsuits alleging that improper safety measures caused the tragedy.
Anderson Lee Aldrich killed five and injured 19 at the Colorado Springs nightclub in November 2022. In June, they were sentenced to 55 concurrent life sentences to run consecutively with 190 years in prison after pleading guilty to 74 hate crimes and firearms charges connected to the shooting.
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One lawsuit targets Club Q itself for allegedly reducing security at the venue to save money in the year leading up to the shooting. The other focuses on the El Paso County Sheriff’s office and accuses law enforcement of failing to enforce Colorado’s red flag law that could have prevented the shooter from having access to firearms.
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“Members of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office negligently and unconscionably played a role in Anderson Aldrich possessing and using firearms inside Club Q,” they wrote in a 2023 notice of claim regarding their intent to sue.
The state’s red flag law – also known as an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) – says that members of law enforcement, family members, and roommates can request the temporary removal of a person’s firearms from their possession if they believe them to be a danger to others or themselves. It also prevents them from purchasing more weapons.
Aldrich was arrested in 2021 for allegedly kidnapping their grandparents and threatening to kill them. Court documents also allege they had voiced plans to become the “next mass killer” and were stockpiling firearms, ammunition, materials to make bombs, and body armor, the Associated Press reported.
Aldrich faced felony charges, which temporarily prevented them from buying guns legally. But just months before the shooting at Club Q, the felony charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, and Aldrich was free to buy and possess guns again.
Colorado Public Radio reported that no local authorities filed a petition for the removal of Aldrich’s weapons after their arrest.
It is not, however, a requirement that a request be made and many conservatives believe that it is unconstitutional to remove weapons from someone who has not been convicted of a crime.
In El Paso County – where Colorado Springs is located – local leaders have previously declared their allegiance to the Second Amendment.
In 2020, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office announced it would only request weapons removal if there is “probable cause” that “a crime is being or has been committed,” even though the red flag law is designed to prevent a crime before it can happen.
Aldrich’s case and the sheriff’s refusal to use the red flag law prompted state lawmakers to revise the provision this year to allow prosecutors, health providers, and educators to seek extreme risk protection orders, in addition to law enforcement and family members.
The plaintiffs in the suit state that the sherriff’s office “deliberate inaction allowed the shooter continued access to firearms, directly enabling the attack on Club Q.”
The suit targeting Club Q for allegedly reducing security from five guards to one states the venue “advertised itself as a ‘safe place’ for LGBTQIA+ individuals. But that was a façade.”
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