Mass Shooting at Gay Club Kills At Least Five

UPDATE: Shooter is identified plus this:

"KRDO spoke with a man who was at Club Q roughly ten minutes before shots were fired. He was able to connect with one of his friends who was shot at the hospital. According to him, his friend said the shooter came into the nightclub and began firing. The friend said the suspect was wearing a mask and a vest of some sort. "

Typically, gay clubs are a place of safety and refuge for LGBT individuals who all too often face discrimination and even violence thanks to religious based hatred and Republican candidates and politicans who fan anti-gay bigotry and hatred and falsely depict gays as threat to children in order to endear themselves to the ugly base of their party.   When I first came out, gay clubs provided one of the few venues where I felt safe.  Thus, it is upsetting to have yet another gay club targeted in a mass shooting, this time in Colorado Springs.   While the motive of the shooter - who is in custody after patrons managed to stop the carnage - is at this point unknown, it's all too easy to suspect that the nationwide Republican effort to demonize gays and erase our existence from public schools may have had something to do with this latest bloodbath.   The anti-gay hate group Focus on the Family is after all based in Colorado Springs.  The New York Times looks at the information currently available on this horrible event:

At least five people were killed and 18 injured late Saturday in a shooting at an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub in Colorado Springs, the police said early Sunday morning. A police spokeswoman said that the investigation was only beginning, and that the number of victims was subject to change. The injured were taken to several local hospitals, she said.

Here are the details:

·         The police received an initial call about a shooting at the nightclub at 11:57 p.m., said Lt. Pamela Castro, the Colorado Springs Police Department spokeswoman. Officers entered the club and took into custody a person whom they believed to be the gunman. The suspect was also injured and was being treated at a hospital, Lieutenant Castro said.

·       The F.B.I. said that it was also involved in the investigation, and several Colorado lawmakers condemned the shooting. Gov. Jared Polis indicated in a statement that “brave individuals” at the nightclub had “blocked the gunman,” although the authorities have not yet released details.

·         In a statement on its Facebook page, Club Q said it was “devastated by the senseless attack on our community.” The club added, “We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack.”

·         The shooting at Club Q had echoes of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., when a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53

Colorado Springs, a city of about 500,000 people south of Denver, is a Republican stronghold and for decades was a center for conservative Christian efforts to pass laws limiting the rights of gay people. It has been home to a number of religious leaders with national platforms who have condemned homosexuality.

At the same time, the city has long had a small, but vibrant L.G.B.T.Q. community that supported a handful of small clubs, seemingly energized by a dominant surrounding culture that didn’t always welcome them.

Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said in a statement that he was grateful to individuals who had “blocked the gunman, likely saving lives in the process” during Saturday’s shooting, echoing a statement by the nightclub on Facebook that “heroic customers” had subdued the gunman. The police have not disclosed details.

Senator John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat, called the shooting “an unspeakable act.” He added: “We have to protect LGBTQ lives from this hate.” The authorities, who are expected to give an update in the next hour, have not publicly described a motive.

Club Q, an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub about seven miles outside downtown Colorado Springs, had scheduled a musical drag brunch for Sunday morning. On Sunday evening, it was planning to celebrate Transgender Day of Remembrance “with a variety of gender identities and performance styles” at an 8 p.m. show.

The attack late Saturday brought terror to a place that was, for many visitors, a refuge, a place to escape the hate, discrimination and violence often endured by L.G.B.T.Q. people outside its doors. Gay bars have long been havens for those exploring their identity, or simply seeking a space to be themselves without fear of not being accepted.