Five people were killed and dozens more injured in a mass shooting at the LGTBQ nightclub Club Q over the weekend. The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was taken into custody at the scene and arrested on murder and hate crime charges.
Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez identified all five victims at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Here is what we know about them:
Daniel Aston
Aston, a 28-year-old transgender man, was a bartender at Club Q. His death was confirmed to the Associated Press by his mother, Sabrina Aston.
“We are in shock. We cried for a little bit, but then you go through this phase where you are just kind of numb, and I’m sure it will hit us again,” his mother said.
“I keep thinking it’s a mistake, they made a mistake, and that he is really alive,” she added.
Aston helped new patrons feel comfortable at the queer-friendly bar.
Shelby Stamm, 21, who is bisexual, said the first time she went to Club Q, she was nervous. Aston noticed, she said, and came over to put her at ease.
“‘Seems like it’s your first time,’” Stamm remembered Aston saying to her. “ ‘Let’s get you a drink.’ ”
The drag performer Del Lusional, who performed at Club Q the night of the shooting, posted a tribute to Aston on Twitter.
“If I wanted a cigarette from Daniel, I had to butter him up with stupid compliments ‘Your mullet looks very nice today’ ‘Did you do something to your mustache? It looks very full,’” the performer tweeted. “I’m gonna miss walking into the bar and going ‘WHO LET YOU IN HERE?????’ And I’m gonna miss being greeted with his middle finger to my face. So so so much.
“Enjoy the stupid moments with your friends,” the performer added.
Derrick Rump
Rump was a bartender at Club Q. His mother confirmed his death to The Times but declined an interview.
Rump was a “lovely, funny, hilarious person” who always kept people laughing with a sassy remark or a little friendly “shade,” said Keoni Moore, 20, a DJ who used to work at the club.
“Derrick was very much the comedian,” Moore said.
The drag performer Del Lusional also posted about Rump.
“Right before all this, I started singing Hero by Enrique Inglesias to Derrick while he was getting me a drink because he was in a bad mood and it made him laugh. ... And that’s the last time I talked to him,” the performer posted on Twitter.
Kelly Loving
Loving, 40, was visiting Club Q from Denver when she was shot and killed, a friend confirmed to The Times.
Natalee Skye, 25, was on FaceTime with Loving minutes before the shooting.
“I told her, ‘I love you, be safe,’ and she said it back to me, and I never heard back from Kelly again,” Skye said in an interview.
When she tried to get back in touch with Loving later that night and the next morning, she got no response.
Skye, who knew Loving from when they both lived in Florida, found out her friend was dead from Loving’s roommate.
The two and other friends had celebrated Loving’s 40th birthday days earlier, on Nov. 16. Loving was supposed to join Skye for Thanksgiving.
“In the gay community, we congregate together to make our families. Kelly was like a mother to me. I invited her to my house Thanksgiving because I didn’t know what her plans were. She planned on being at my house starting today,” Skye said.
“Now she won’t be at my dinner table this week for Thanksgiving,” Skye said.
Skye told The Times that she had survived the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
Ashley Paugh
Paugh was a patron at Club Q on Saturday night and was killed in the shooting, her sister confirmed to NBC News.
Paugh, 35, was the mother of an 11-year-old girl, according to her sister, Stephanie Clark.
Her sister-in-law also confirmed the death in a Facebook post.
“It is with a heavy heart that I say that my sister in law, Ashley Green Paugh, was tragically murdered late Saturday night in a senseless act of hate,” wrote Kimberly Paugh. “My wish is that he (the shooter) could hear the screams of my niece, crying for her mommy, as her crying father tells her that her mommy is gone- on repeat for the rest of his life.”
Raymond Green Vance
Green Vance was at the club Saturday with his girlfriend, Kassy Fierro, and her family for a birthday party. Green Vance’s death was confirmed to the Colorado Springs Gazette by his mother.
Green Vance was fatally shot when the gunman entered the club, according to a Facebook post from Atrevida Beer Co., which is owned by his girlfriend’s family.
“With an incredibly heavy and broken heart we lost Raymond, who had been a part of our lives since our daughter was in high school,” according to the post.
Kassy Fierro also wrote on Instagram about Green Vance’s death, saying she’ll “never be able to heal from this.”
“U gave me the best 5 years and four months,” she wrote. “My sweet love, i will never forget u.”
The post by the beer company also mentioned that Rich Fierro, one of the owners of the brewery, “injured both his hands, knees and ankle as he apprehended the shooter.”
Fierro is an Army veteran, according to the brewery’s website.
He declined to comment when reached by The Times.
