This Sunday will mark one year since a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
Raymond Green Vance, 22, Daniel Aston, 28, Ashley Paugh, 35, Derrick Rump, 38, and Kelly Loving, 40, were killed in the attack at Club Q, which started just before midnight on Nov. 19. 2022. Seventeen others were injured by gunfire and many more suffered other injuries as they sought cover.
The club has been closed since the shooting, but owner Matthew Haynes recently announced plans to reopen at a new location, under a new name. Haynes originally planned to renovate and rebuild the club at the site of the shooting.
In a press release, Club Q spokesman Michael Anderson said the new venue will provide a safe, affirming, and inclusive space as "transgender people are being attacked and legislated against throughout the country and the art of drag is under attack as grooming."
"Both locally and nationally, Club Q’s reopening sends a strong message that hate will not win, love will always prevail," Anderson said.
The shooter is serving multiple life sentences plus more than 2,000 years in prison, following a guilty plea to five counts of first-degree murder and 46 counts of attempted first-degree murder. The shooter also pleaded no contest to hate crime charges in a Colorado Springs courtroom in June. It's unclear whether federal prosecutors will file federal hate crimes for the attack.
Planned remembrances and events
- Noon, Sunday, Nov. 19, Club Q
3430 N. Academy Blvd., Colorado Springs
Club Q management will be joined by families of those who were killed along with Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade. - 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 19, Club Q
3430 N. Academy Blvd, Colorado Springs
Community Health Partnership and Bread & Roses Legal Center will host a remembrance and cleanup of the on-site memorial. - Noon, Monday, Nov. 20, Acacia Park
115 E. Platte Ave., Colorado Springs
Community Health Partnership and Bread & Roses Legal Center will host a gathering for Transgender Day of Remembrance. Speakers include Colorado State Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson, Z Williams, Stoney Roberts, and Potted Plant/Wyatt Kent.
Support for anyone struggling
- Prism Community Collective - offers access to mental and physical health providers for LGBTQ+ people as well as immediate and long-term support to Club Q survivors and families of those killed.
- Suicide Prevention Collaborative of El Paso County
- Inside Out Youth Services - provides support to LGBTQIA2+ youth in Colorado Springs, ages 13-24
- Colorado Crisis Services hotline: Call 1-844-493-8255 or text “TALK” to 38255 to speak with a trained counselor or professional. Counselors are also available at walk-in locations or online to chat between 4 p.m. and midnight.
- Diversus Health: Offers a 24/7 walk-in crisis center for crisis services and counseling for all ages, regardless of ability to pay. You can request an appointment here or visit 115 S. Parkside Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80910.
- Peak View Behavioral Health Assessment team: 719-444-8484 or www.peakviewbh.com.
Tips for coping with gun violence and grief
- How to talk to children about gun violence
- Here’s one psychologist’s advice for how to cope with the trauma and stress a mass shooting can cause
- Colorado has more mass shootings than other places. Survivors say we all have trauma to process
- As mass shootings and pandemic collide in Colorado, mental health experts urge connection now more than ever
Previous coverage
- ‘We’ve lost our family’: LGBTQ community mourns after shooting at Club Q
- ‘I’m not the hero, they’re the heroes’: U.S. Army veteran Richard Fierro took down attacker in Club Q
- For the Colorado Springs LGBTQ community, the Club Q shooting has dredged up memories of the area’s bigoted past — and the huge progress made (and yet to make)
- Numerous warnings about Club Q suspect raises questions about 2021 arrest
- ‘Why are we having to beg?’ Group of Club Q survivors renew call for Colorado Healing Fund to release money
- Navy honors sailor who helped stop Club Q shooting
