Victims and mothers of those killed in the 2022 mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs filed suit, alleging that the murders could’ve been prevented if the sheriff’s office used the state’s red flag law after clear warning signs that gunman Anderson Aldrich intended to commit violence, the Associated Press reports. The plaintiffs in the two lawsuits, filed Sunday, include survivor Barrett Hudson, who still has three bullets in his body from that night, and other victims and relatives. Families and victims also accuse the nightclub’s owners in the lawsuit of winnowing Club Q’s security detail from five or more people to just one in the years leading up to the shooting, prioritizing profits over the safety. “Club Q advertised itself as a ‘safe place’ for LGBTQIA+ individuals. But that was a façade,” read both the complaints, which allege negligence among other allegations.
A central focus of both lawsuits is the El Paso County commissioners’ and the then sheriff’s refusal to enforce Colorado’s red flag law passed in 2019, which allows law enforcement to temporary take someone’s firearm if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others. The county commissioners and sheriff saw the red flag law as an encroachment on gun rights, and passed a resolution to be a “Second Amendment preservation county” and, alongside the then sheriff, vowed to “actively resist” the bill, according to court documents. But Aldrich was clearly a threat, the suits contend. In 2021, Aldrich was arrested for allegedly kidnapping and threatening to kill his grandparents, reportedly saying he would become the “next mass killer” and collecting ammunition, bomb-making materials, firearms and body armor, according to court documents. Authorities did not attempt to remove Aldrich’s weapons, the lawsuits allege, and “This deliberate inaction allowed the shooter continued access to firearms, directly enabling the attack on Club Q.” The suits separately allege negligence and wrongful death against the El Paso County commissioners and former sheriff.
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