Survivors of the Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs have filed lawsuits against the bar and the El Paso county sheriff’s office, claiming that their "deliberate inaction" helped facilitate the 2022 attack that took five lives.
The two lawsuits were filed Sunday by both survivors of the shooting and family members of those who were killed. The suit against the sheriff's office, via The Associated Press, asserts that the then-sheriff and commissioner's could have prevented the shooting if they had enforced a 2019 red flag law.
The sheriff's office refused to enforce the law, which allows them to temporarily take someone’s firearm if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others, despite the shooter being arrested a year prior for allegedly kidnapping and threatening to kill their grandparents. Anderson Lee Aldrich, now 24, also collected materials used to make bombs, as well as firearms and ammunition.
Brett Forrest/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
El Paso county passed a resolution opposing the red flag law, which it deemed a Second Amendment Preservation Resolution, claiming it infringed on people's right to bear arms. The resolution was not legally binding, meaning the sheriff's office was still obligated to follow state law.
“This deliberate inaction allowed the shooter continued access to firearms, directly enabling the attack on Club Q," the complaint reads.
The other lawsuit accuses Club Q ownership of failing to employ enough security staff at the club, which could have potentially hindered Aldrich. It claims that the owners cut back on security in the years leading up to the attack, going from upwards of five staff members to just one.
"Club Q advertised itself as a ‘safe place’ for LGBTQIA+ individuals. But that was a facade,” the lawsuit states.
Aldrich is currently serving 56 concurrent life sentences, plus an additional 190 years in prison, after pleading guilty to 74 federal hate crime and firearms charges.
