EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — Victim families and survivors of the November 2022 Club Q mass shooting filed two lawsuits against the El Paso County commissioners, the former sheriff and Club Q management, alleging the killings could have been prevented if the sheriff’s office used Colorado's red flag law and if there were greater protections in place at Club Q.
The lawsuits were filed this week in US District Court in Denver, right before the two-year mark of the Colorado Springs mass shooting that took the lives of five people and injured 19 others inside the LGBTQ+ club.
Attorneys argue the shooting was a result of both public policy failures and private negligence, with one lawsuit stating "while the Club Q Defendants neglected their duty to maintain a safe environment, law enforcement’s refusal to implement Colorado’s Red Flag Law left the shooter armed and dangerous, leading to this preventable tragedy."
The shooter – Anderson Lee Aldrich – pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges in June and was sentenced to 55 life terms in prison.
The shooter is already serving life in prison after pleading guilty to state charges in the 2022 shooting last year. Federal prosecutors focused on proving that the attack at Club Q — a sanctuary for LGBTQ+ people in the primarily conservative city — was premeditated and fueled by bias.
The complaints allege that law enforcement was aware of the Club Q shooter's dangerous intentions long before the attack. The suits cite the June 2021 arrest of the shooter after they were accused of threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer” while stockpiling weapons, body armor, and bomb-making materials.
The sheriff's office previously told Denver7 that all firearms that belonged to the gunman were seized and a mandatory protection order was issued against the future shooter. Part of that order means they could not possess any firearms, which is why the sheriff's office said they didn't petition for an extreme risk protection order before the charges were dismissed.
The shooter was later released on bond, and the case was dismissed after the defendant's mother and grandparents refused to cooperate, and prosecutors failed to serve subpoenas to family members that could have kept the case alive.
The defendant also studied other mass shootings, accumulated weapons, shared an online manifesto from a mass shooter who referred to transgenderism as a “disease,” and coordinated a spam email campaign against a former work supervisor who is gay, prosecutors said during the shooters trial.
IN-DEPTH: Read Denver7’s complete coverage on the Club Q shooting and its aftermath
The lawsuits contend that these incidents should have triggered the state’s red flag law, which would allow law enforcement to confiscate the shooter’s firearms temporarily. However, this was not done, the lawsuits allege, after county commissioners and the sheriff’s office declared the county was a “Second Amendment sanctuary” and refused to enforce the red flag law passed in 2019.
In an online statement, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said they will not seek a risk protection order unless "exigent circumstances exist."
During a 2019 interview with Denver7's sister station in Colorado Springs, KOAA, former El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder said, “We’re not going to pursue these [risk protection orders] on our own, meaning the sheriff’s office isn’t going to run over and get a court order.”
The lawsuits allege that at the time of the "Club Q shooting in November 2022, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office had not filed a single ERPO petition under the Red Flag Law, consistent with the policies of both the Sheriff’s Office and the Board of County Commissioners."
The complaints cite a petition for an extreme risk protection order against a "troubled young man" filed on June 10, 2022, by a Colorado Springs police detective who stated the individual in question had "suicidal and homicidal ideations and planned to carry out a mass shooting at the Territory Days event in Colorado Springs or at an unnamed gay bar."
The Colorado Springs police detective was alerted to the threats by a therapist who was treating the young man. An extreme risk protection order was granted in this case, which barred the individual from possessing or obtaining firearms for 364 days.
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Victim families and survivors also accuse the owners of Club Q of having inadequate security, stating that the owners prioritized profit over safety and failed to provide proper training to staff. The plaintiffs said the nightclub reduced security personnel and eliminated security guards before the November 2022 shooting, leaving the business vulnerable to such attacks.
“Club Q advertised itself as a ‘safe place’ for LGBTQIA+ individuals. But that was a façade,” read the complaints.
Later in the complaint, attorneys address the physical layout of Club Q, calling it inherently unsafe. "Rather than serving as a 'safe space,' it was structured like a death trap."
The defendant visited the club before the attack, including stopping by an hour and a half before the shooting, according to prosecutors. Just before midnight, the defendant returned wearing a tactical vest with ballistic plates and carrying an AR-15-style rifle and started firing immediately.
The shooting was stopped by a Navy officer who grabbed the barrel of the suspect’s rifle, burning his hand, and an Army veteran who helped subdue the defendant until police arrived, authorities have said.
The suits separately allege negligence and wrongful death against the El Paso County commissioners and former sheriff.
El Paso County does not comment on pending litigation. The former sheriff, Bill Elder, told Denver7 he will not be commenting on the lawsuits either.
The owner of Club Q and a named defendant, Matthew Haynes, provided Denver7 with a statement saying the accusations against him are false and will be "rigorously defended."
Haynes full statement can be read here:
The tragic events of Club Q remain a devastating chapter in our lives and in the lives of our community. The pain of this tragedy is something we all carry with us every single day.
The accusations against Club Q and myself are false and completely inaccurate and will be rigorously defended.
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.
Out of respect for the legal process and all those affected, we will address these matters in the appropriate venue.
Our thoughts remain with the victims, their families, and everyone impacted by this senseless act of violence.
- Matthew Haynes, Club Q Owner
In a 30-minute special report from November 2023, Denver7 looked back at the Club Q mass shooting, including what’s changed and what the previous year had been like for LGBTQ+ Coloradans.
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