COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A man who was inside the Colorado Springs nightclub on Saturday night described what happened when a gunman walked through the front door and opened fire into the crowd.
Joshua Thurman said he was on the dance floor of Club Q when he heard four to five shots, and at first he thought it was the music. Then came another round of shots, and he saw the flash from the muzzle.
"When I saw that, I ran," Thurman said.
Five people were killed and many more injured in the shooting in the LGBTQ+ nightclub, located at 2430 N. Academy Blvd. Two patrons fought with the suspect, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, and stopped him from killing anyone else, according to police.
Thurman said that after the second round of gunshots, he ran into a dressing room and took refuge there with two other people.
"We closed and locked the doors," he said. "We got down on the ground and cut off all the lights. We heard everything. We heard a third round of shots. We heard the assailant be detained by, we assume, employees of Club Q. We heard the police come in. We heard yelling."
He said they were, "Shaking, crying, fearing for our lives. I'm thinking that at any moment, this man could bust through the door and kill us, if he really wanted to."
"It was sad," he said as he choked up. "It was scary."
> Watch the full interview with Justin Thurman below:
The first calls to police about an active shooter were at 11:57 p.m. Police got to the nightclub at midnight and took the suspect into custody at 12:02 p.m.
Of the 18 injured, at least seven were in critical condition, authorities said. On Monday, police said 17 of the injured victims suffered gunshot wounds, while the 18th victim's injuries did not include gunshot wounds. Police also said there was a 19th victim who did not suffer any visible injuries.
Authorities initially said at least 25 people were injured in the shooting but clarified on Monday that at least 18 people suffered injuries in addition to the five victims who were killed.
Colorado Springs Police has not released any information on a possible motive of the shooting.
"Our safe space is no longer our safe space, and we are a broken community," Thurman said. "We shouldn't have to come together after something like this."
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