Following the mass shooting at an LGBTQ night club last night in Colorado Springs, Out Boulder County said it is opening its doors today at 1:00 p.m. “to provide a space for the community to gather.” Mental health services will be available.
Out Boulder County is a nonprofit organization that provides services and education to LGBTQ county residents.
At least five people were fatally shot and more than a dozen wounded late Saturday night, as a 22-year-old man opened fire on people dancing at Club Q, authorities said. The shooting lasted barely minutes before club-goers subdued the shooter, according to news reports.
There is evidence suggesting the shooting was a hate crime, the Colorado Sun reported.
“We fear for our own safety and the safety of those we know and love,” Out Boulder County’s executive director, Mardi Moore, said in a statement to the community.
“Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day designated to commemorate the
lives lost each year due to transphobia,” Out Boulder County said. “We are hosting a community ceremony that the public is invited to attend to support one another and grieve together. We will be grieving for those lost in the shooting as well as the trans people who have been murdered in the past year.”
The public community ceremony will be held at Out Boulder County’s Equality Center of the Rocky Mountains at 3340 Mitchell Lane in Boulder at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. Those who died at Club Q will also be honored.
Moore issued the following full statement in response to the Club Q shooting:
Last night at Club Q in Colorado Springs, five members of the LGBTQ community were
murdered and 18 more were wounded. We do not yet know the identities or
backgrounds of those that were murdered, but we do know that they leave behind
friends, partners, and both chosen family and family of origin. Our hearts are broken for
the lives that were lost, those they leave behind, and the entire LGBTQ community.While we are no stranger to violence, each time this happens it sends devastating
ripples throughout our entire community. We grieve together when one of our LGBTQ
siblings is taken from us by violence. We fear for our own safety and the safety of those
we know and love. We are angry when anyone is killed because of who we are or who
we love, and we lament that political attacks on our community embolden hate and
make us all less safe. We rage because this happens far too often, and the toll that
hatred and violence takes on our community is far too high.Out Boulder County remains committed to improving the lives of LGBTQ people while
they are living, fighting like hell to keep them alive, and grieving for those we lose.
The gunman, 22 and from Colorado Springs, is in custody. He used a semi-automatic rifle, similar to an AR-15, according to reports.
The City of Boulder, the Town of Superior, the City of Louisville and Boulder County all passed gun laws earlier this year that ban the possession of semi-automatic assault rifles, among other restrictions. The reforms capped off a nearly year-long effort to enact stronger protections against gun violence following the King Soopers shooting in South Boulder. The package of gun laws were among the strictest in Colorado.
In response to the gun laws, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, a conservative gun-rights group, sued the county and the other localities for allegedly violating Second Amendment rights to possess firearms. A federal district court judge temporarily blocked Boulder County from enforcing its ban on assault-style weapons. The City of Boulder preemptively halted enforcement of its own ban. City Attorney Teresa Taylor Tate said in a late August news release: “The cities of Boulder and Louisville along with Boulder County will seek to consolidate the lawsuits against each jurisdiction with the case against Superior.”