The question was is,
is there any other suspects?
That's part of the ongoing
investigation at this time.
We have one identified
suspect in custody. Yes, Sir.
Those shoes and long gun that
was used was a ghost gun.
Can you all confirm that?
And also there's another firearm in this
that apparently was bought illegally
from an unlicensed dealer in Florida.
Can you comment on that as well, so.
The question was about the information
that there was a long gun involved
as well as another firearm and
the sources of those firearms.
That is also part of the ongoing
investigation and at this point in
time would be inappropriate for us to
comment on where those were found and
where they were obtained from, yes.
Charges include bias charge.
And many people in the world.
Would like to understand the
motivation behind this incident.
Can you articulate what prompted those
specific charges or can you speak
to the shooters motivations here?
OK, so the question was twofold.
One about the charges of the bias charges
and then one about the motivation.
I can tell you that motivation
is obviously a part of every
criminal investigation that we do.
That is part of the current investigation.
I can't speak any further.
About any motive.
And then the second part
regarding the charges,
I'll hand over to our District
Attorney, Mr. Allen.
So a a quirk in criminal law is that we
don't have to prove when we go to a court.
We don't have to prove motive,
but obviously we're all humans and we
want to know what caused somebody to go
in and do something as horrific as this.
So that's that's why we just heard from.
The PIO, that's that,
that's being investigated.
It's important that if we have
enough evidence to support bias
motivated crimes to charge that
it's important for this community.
It's important for the prosecution effort
to show why something happened and if
there's enough evidence to support that.
In this case,
when we get to the formal filing charges,
we will absolutely be including
those charges here as well.
But I want to also be clear that the
bias motivated statute in Colorado,
the highest level charge that we can get.
With that charge is a Class 4 felony.
We're obviously talking about
five people that were killed,
their lives were ended.
Those are going to be the top
end charges in this case.
Without a doubt.
Those charges will likely carry
life in prison without parole,
whereas the Class 4 felonies
are probation eligible offenses.
So those do not in any way elevate the
potential sentence in a case like this.
But it is important to let the Community
know that we do not tolerate bias
motivated crimes in this Community that
we support communities that have been.
Aligned,
harassed and intimidated and abused.
And that's one way that we can do that,
showing that we will put the money
where our mouth is essentially and and
make sure that we try it that way.
So I hope that answers your question,
but we're going to absolutely be
reviewing it for formal charges
along those same lines.
Yes, Sir.
Office. Targeting system.
So the question is, is the US
Attorney's Office going to be charging
federal hate crimes, Mr Finnegan?
Thank you for your question.
There's an ongoing investigation and we
really can't comment further at this time,
but we are reviewing all the facts.
We're reviewing all the
information that we have,
and we're working closely with
the District Attorney's office,
with the FBI, with ATF and with
Chief Vasquez in his department.
So I just want to reiterate and reaffirm
that the Department of Justice is
looking at all aspects of this case.
Thank you.
Any previous threats to come?
The question was, were there any
previous threats to the club?
I think we have very clearly said
that this club was a safe haven in
our community and that's something
to be respected and honored.
I wanted to be very clear that this
club from the police department's
perspective, was no issue.
We had a good relationship with them.
They there weren't issues at this club
as far as if there were prior threats.
Again, that would be part of
any investigation and would be
a part of this investigation.
Investigators been looking into social
media posts, online writings, any violent
tendencies specifically towards LGBTQ.
Yeah, so this is similar to the
question of past history motive,
but specific to social media.
In this day and age,
social media is where everybody's at.
So of course we're looking at social
media and every investigation that we do,
whether that be from a very
basic patrol investigation.
All the way up to the most significant.
Are we able to actually confirm
the shooter is also the person we
have all been talking about from
last year with this contract?
The question is, is that is the
shooter from today or from not
today from the club queue incident
the same individual as I believe
the bomb threat you said, Sir,
I'm going to let Mr.
Allen answer that.
Spencer good question, but it's
a question that we can answer.
Cannot answer at this time for
the reasons I gave earlier.
Yes, ma'am.
If, hypothetically,
this suspect did have a prior
prior criminal history and those
documents were sealed at this time,
this might be their District Attorney, Alan.
What process would have to be gone
through and how would be responsible
for getting those documents unsealed
and is that something you're
office is interesting to pursue?
The question was if they're under
Colorado law, if something is sealed,
what is the process to unseal them?
So I'm going to answer this
question in very general terms,
not as it relates to this case,
and I hope that will satisfy
what you're driving at.
Generally speaking,
if a case gets dismissed and then a
person commits a subsequent offense,
it's very common that we can look
at back at that prior offense to see
if there's some connection to that
prior offence to the current offense.
We do that in almost every case
where somebody has a prior.
Sometimes we will try to use that
prior incident in the new case.
To do that, we have to file motions.
404 B which is prior bad, acts motions.
If it's appropriate to do that
in a case like this,
then we will do that.
I'm absolutely.
Too premature to tell what timeline
that may or may not be on for the
reasons that I stated earlier as it
relates to this specific incident
and and what you're asking about,
but it should be available publicly
if a motion is filed along the
lines that you're describing.
We have been watching that press
conference live for about 35
minutes now from down in Colorado
Springs after 20 two people were
shot around midnight Saturday
night into Sunday morning down
at Club Q in Colorado Springs.
Five of those 22 people died.
And while the investigation and
the aspects of the investigation
we have not learned very much
in that news conference.
We did learn about those five victims.
And and so many people have wanted to
learn more because of course there's been
a lot of discussion about who this shooter
was who is hospitalized was taken into.
Custody and charges and and they're
not gonna release anything right now.
They're not even going to talk about the
possibility of the charges at this point.
What they really want us to talk
about though are the victims.
And they did just release their
names and their photos that the
families wanted us to remember.
Kelly loving, Daniel Aston, Derek rump,
Ashley Paw, Raymond Green, Vance.
And they are the people
they want us to focus on,
as well as the two heroes that were inside.
Thomas James. And Richard Fierro,
identified as the two who interrupted
the shooter in in just a minute,
did shoot 22 people.
But so many more people could
have been in harm's way.
Worked out for the heroic decks
of those two who who took down
that that shooter and stopped,
stopped the the horror and
the club Q story will go on.
I think for many people that was
a frustrating news conference,
though, as far as,
as far as law enforcement and the like,
really not not being able to to
to come forward with more detail,
but they are clearly going to go very
slowly with what they have and how
they're going to go about sharing it.
But for those 22 people who suffered
gunshot wounds, and there were
also a couple of other victims,
one wounded but not shot,
another one with no visible injuries,
and they say they expect more of
those people to come forward.
And asked them to come forward
as well to get in touch with
the FBI at one 800 call FBI.
If you were one of those people who
was in Club Q and was injured they
they want to hear from you or if you
have video or any account of what
did in fact take place that night.
They said even driving by possibly
could have provided them the evidence.
I think part of the frustration with
this is that so many people are at this
point where this happens so often.
We want answers and we want to know what,
if anything could have
been done to prevent this.
And so we're gonna wait.
Yeah, this is where we stand as
we start. 4:00 o'clock at 9 news.
Today we are learning more about the
five people that were shot inside
what was a safe space for the LGBTQ
community in Colorado Springs.
The five who died late Saturday night into
Sunday morning and 17 others also shot,
and now by their names and
by their photographs released
by Colorado Springs Police.
These are the five who died,
Kelly loving, Raymond Green,
Vance, as well as Ashley Paw.
And Daniel asked,
and Derek Rump also killed that night.
Paul was a mother and wife.
Family said she had a huge heart.
She loved her family and kids,
her family, and said she
worked for the kids crossing,
a nonprofit for foster children.
This is Daniel Aston.
Yeah, and friends called him
the Master of Silly business.
He liked to make people laugh.
His family says he was a
bartender and entertainer.
This is Derek rump, also a bartender,
who was killed that night.
He was friends with Daniel's.
Friends say he was always trying
to make others feel comfortable.
We're working to learn more about.
Kelly leaving and Raymond Green.
Vance police say two people inside that
bar fought and stopped at the accused
shooter in this case Anderson Aldridge.
Moments after the shooting started the
suspect did have a prior run in with police.
His mother told him he threatened to blow up.
Told others that he threatened
to blow up the home.
He told police that we'll have more
on the suspect and why the states
red flag law wasn't used against him.
That's all coming up.
The mother of Daniel.
Aston says her son was a happy
child who loved to laugh.
Sabrina says her son loved
being a bartender at Club Q.
It's just a nightmare that you
can't wake up from and. Umm.
I keep thinking it's so, you know,
it's just, it's a mistake,
they've made a mistake and you
know these young people and
when all of them were young.
They don't hurt anybody.
They're just normal folk, you know?
Most of them have day jobs and it's.
I I just don't understand why it
it would hurt anybody.
It doesn't hurt anybody.
Haston also said legislators must take
action to prevent future tragedies,
though she did not explain
what she'd like to see happen.
President Biden called Democratic
Governor Jared Polis today as well to
share his support for Colorado and
offered help from the federal government.
Saturday's shooting left 17 people shot.
In addition to the five people
who were killed, and many are
still recovering in the hospital,
others were allowed to go home.
Our Nine News reporter Julissa
Rizzari has been able to speak
with some of them today.
And jalisa, tell us what you've
learned as far as how they're doing.
Welcome and Tom,
physically and emotionally.
And many of these people have
a long road to recovery.
But the two that I spoke
with were strong enough to
share what happened at night.
So much has been added to North Academy Blvd,
but nothing can replace what's been lost.
So many people down. So much damage.
Jericho Lovall knows that.
So much blood and you don't know.
What you can do or what you should do,
but I lost a big part of myself with
everything that happened to Saturday night.
Jericho says he was one of the many
inside Club Cube when a gunman walked in.
You hear shots,
you feel the heat coming past you,
glass around you, shattering.
I went to get up and the
bartender yells at me to get down.
The firing stops and I stand up to
try and find everybody I was with.
Jericho found many of those people outside.
He also found he was hurt.
I thought it was maybe just a
scratch from falling or glass
that is there from the fall.
But the officer wrapped it up and
said you need to get to the hospital.
It looks like a gunshot wound,
Jericho says. It was a through and
through gunshot wound and he was able
to be released in a matter of hours.
But down the road at Memorial Hospital,
Ed Sanders wasn't so lucky.
I got hit in the back first.
And I turned around and saw him.
And he it was very fast.
Two volleys at us and the second
one got my leg and then I went
down and had surgery on his injuries
on Sunday and is still recovering.
Will always be lost.
A club queue is like a family to me.
I'm still in shock.
I think it hasn't really sunk
in that these people are gone.
I asked both Ed and Jericho if they would
ever step foot in club queue again and
without hesitation they both said yes.
The sooner the better came in Tom.
Or actually. So we'll get back to you for
more on this throughout the afternoon.
There are several ways you can help the
victims and people most impacted by the
club Q shooting if you want to donate,
the Colorado Healing Fund
has also been activated.
That's a method to donate in a secure way
that will go to the people impacted and
their communities long term recovery.
There's more details on that
at 9news.com by talent.
Also sending blood to hospitals
in Colorado Springs trying to help
victims and they're asking people to
give blood over the next few days.
It could save someone's life in an emergency.
You can make an appointment on
the VITALIC website.