Victims of 2022 mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ club sue county for not enforcing red flag laws

Victims and mothers of those killed in the mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs in 2022 have filed lawsuits 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 the gunman intended to commit violence.

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. They are scheduled to speak about the legal action at a news conference Tuesday — which is the two year anniversary of the shooting at the nightclub, Club Q.

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 was 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.

Natalie Sosa, a spokesperson for El Paso County, said it does not comment on pending litigation.

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.

The lawsuits argue that authorities should have used the red flag law after the arrest of the gunman, Anderson Aldrich, a year before he would walk into Club Q firing indiscriminately.

Those killed in the shooting were Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump and Ashley Paugh.

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.

“You clearly have been planning for something else,” a judge told Aldrich in an 2021 hearing, according to documents previously obtained by The Associated Press. "It was saving all these firearms and trying to make this bomb and making statements about other people being involved in some sort of shootout and a huge thing."

The judge later dismissed all charges for “failure to prosecute” during a four-minute hearing, partly because the prosecution hadn't been able serve subpoenas to key victims, according to documents obtained by the AP.

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.

Aldrich, now 24, pled guilty to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to a life in prison in 2023 in state court. A year later, Aldrich pled guilty in a federal court to hate crimes and was sentenced to an additional 55 life terms in prison.

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Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.