Law enforcement missed critical opportunities to prevent a 2022 mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado, a pair of lawsuits filed over the weekend allege.
The suits claim that the massacre at Club Q in Colorado Springs, which killed five people and injured at least 19 others, could have been averted had authorities enforced Colorado’s red flag law. The law, passed in 2019, allows law enforcement or family members to petition to have people’s firearms temporarily removed if they are deemed dangers to themselves or others.
The lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado. One was filed on behalf of three victims killed in the nightclub and their mothers, as well survivors of the attack. The other suit was filed on behalf of another survivor, Barrett Hudson, who was shot seven times before he escaped and who still has three bullets lodged in his body that cause “daily excruciating pain,” his complaint says.
The El Paso County Board of County Commissioners and former El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder are named as defendants in the suits, which accuse them of negligence and, in the case of the deceased victims, wrongful death. A county spokesperson declined to comment on the allegations, citing the pending litigation. Elder did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Colorado is one of over a dozen states with red flag laws. The lawsuits say the El Paso County commissioners and the sheriff were critical of the state’s red flag law because they saw it as an infringement on Second Amendment rights; before the law was enacted, the board of commissioners passed a resolution declaring El Paso County a “Second Amendment preservation county,” according to the filings.
The convicted shooter, Anderson Aldrich, then 22, who has identified as nonbinary, “had a history of violent threats and behavior that clearly warranted intervention,” the legal documents say. That included an arrest in June 2021 after Aldrich was alleged to have threatened to kill their grandparents, reportedly said they planned to become “the next mass killer” and stockpiled weapons, the documents add.
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A judge later dismissed charges related to the 2021 arrest, largely because family members refused to cooperate with authorities, The Associated Press has reported. Aldrich was released on bond and, by August 2022, could legally possess firearms again without any restrictions, according to the lawsuits.
The El Paso County defendants “willfully and wantonly ignored the shooter’s warning signs,” the legal documents say.
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“This tragedy was enabled by systemic failures, including law enforcement’s refusal to enforce Colorado’s Red Flag Law, which could have prevented the shooter from possessing firearms, and inadequate security measures at Club Q,” they continue.
Club Q is also named as a defendant, accused of having inadequate security despite past attacks targeting gay nightclubs, including a mass shooting that killed 49 people in Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
“Unfortunately, despite the increased risk of mass shooters, and industry opinion recommending increased security measures, Club Q decreased its security following the 2016 Pulse attack,” the legal documents say.
They add: “Club Q advertised itself as a ‘safe space’ for LGBTBQIA+ individuals. But that was a façade.”
Matthew Haynes, one of the owners of Club Q, said in a statement Tuesday that the accusations “are false and completely inaccurate.”
“The blame for this tragedy does not lie with those who were impacted but with Anderson Aldrich, the shooter, and a system that enables easy access to weapons of war,” he said.
The lawsuits seek jury trials. Aldrich, now 24, is serving life in prison after he pleaded guilty last year to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder. He later also pleaded guilty to hate crimes in federal court.
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