Victims of Club Q Shooting Sue Sheriff’s Office and Club’s Owners
A pair of lawsuits claim that the El Paso County Sheriff's Office and Club Q could have taken more action to prevent the 2022 mass shooting.
Survivors of the mass shooting at Club Q, along with family members of those killed, have filed two lawsuits alleging that better safety measures could have prevented the tragedy.
Anderson Lee Aldrich killed five patrons and employees at the Colorado Springs gay bar, and injured 19 others, when he entered the nightclub and opened fire on the evening of November 19, 2022.
Aldrich pled guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and related offenses, and 74 federal hate crime and weapons-related charges and was sentenced to a total of 60 life sentences and an additional 2,398 years in prison.
One of the lawsuits, filed on November 17, 2024, singles out the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and accuses law enforcement of failing to enforce Colorado’s “red flag” law, which bans individuals deemed by a judge to be at risk of committing violent acts from buying or possessing firearms.
The lawsuit, which claims that county authorities had “ample grounds” to ensure Aldrich couldn’t access guns under Colorado’s 2019 law, does not ask for a specific monetary amount.
“Law enforcement missed critical opportunities to prevent this tragedy,” the suit reads. “The shooter had a history of violent threats and behavior that clearly warranted intervention.”
Five months before the shooting, Aldrich — who has since claimed to be nonbinary, despite some skeptics believing their stated gender identity is intended as a form of trolling meant to rankle the LGBTQ community — was arrested by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office for threatening their grandparents.
Aldrich was accused of vowing to become “the next mass killer,” while allegedly stockpiling weapons, body armor, and bomb-making materials. However, Aldrich’s mother and grandparents, who were witnesses who could have testified to Aldrich’s behavior, did not cooperate with law enforcement authorities and prosecutors, leading to a dismissal of charges.
Following the Club Q shooting, investigators discovered that Aldrich had created two websites, where they posted hateful content about the LGBTQ community. Aldrich had allegedly also shared recordings of 911 calls from the 2016 mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, which claimed the lives of 49 people.
Due to El Paso County’s conservative political bent, local officials denounced the state’s “red flag” law after it passed, with the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners passing a resolution declaring the county a “Second Amendment preservation county.”
According to the lawsuit, at the time of the shooting, the sheriff’s office had not filed a petition asking to remove firearms from a single person in the county, as reported by Colorado Public Radio. The plaintiffs claim that “deliberate inaction” on the part of the sheriff’s office “allowed the shooter continued access to firearms, directly enabling the attack on Club Q.”
Aldrich’s prior encounter with law enforcement and the sheriff’s refusal to utilize the “red flag” law prompted state lawmakers to revise the law to allow prosecutors, health providers, and educators to seek “extreme risk protection orders,” expanding the number of people — besides police and immediate family members — who can intervene if they believe someone poses a danger to themself or others.
Natalie Sosa, a spokesperson for El Paso County, told CBS affiliate KPAX that the county does not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit also targets Club Q’s owner group, alleging that the club reduced security at the venue to save money in the year leading up to the shooting. According to the survivors, the club initially had a “robust security team” with at least five security guards, including one with a loaded firearm, but later reduced that to one unarmed security guard, who also was forced to serve as a bar back and food runner.
“He did his best to protect patrons, but was left with an impossible task,” the lawsuit says. “Club Q advertised itself as a ‘safe space’ for LGBTBQIA+ individuals. But that was a facade.”
The second lawsuit, brought by survivor Barrett Hudson, also targets both the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and Club Q’s owner group. Hudson was shot seven times by Aldrich, and was forced to lie on the floor for 30 minutes while waiting for help.
Hudson still has three bullets in his body because doctors determined it was too dangerous to remove them. He claims he lives in constant pain and can no longer work the construction job he had ahead of the shooting.
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