DENVER — Long before a shooter walked through its doors one week ago and opened fire, Club Q on Colorado Springs’ busy North Academy Boulevard held a special place in the heart of the city’s LGBTQ community.
The club now sits at the center of a national conversation surrounding hate-motivated crimes, fueled by anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from politicians and public figures — and the community is grappling with the violence aimed at some of its most vulnerable citizens.
Colorado’s latest mass shooting, which unfolded over the course of a few minutes late on Nov. 19, took the lives of five people — Daniel Davis Aston, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, Derrick Rump and Raymond Green Vance — left 18 injured and countless others scarred.
