COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Derrick Rump, a bartender at Club Q who was fatally shot, urged others to get down when the gunman entered the nightclub, and he attempted to warn others of the danger.
"Instead of doing it himself, he tried to run outside to get everyone else, to get them to go out the back, and that’s when unfortunately Derrick was shot," said Jerecho Loveal, who was friends with Rump.
Rump and four others were killed late Saturday night at Club Q in Colorado Springs. At least 18 others were injured in the attack at the LGBTQ+ nightclub. The others killed include:
- Daniel Aston (he/him)
- Kelly Loving (she/her)
- Ashley Paugh (she/her)
- Raymond Green Vance (he/him)
"He was one of the most amazing spirits," Loveal said about Rump. "He loved everybody and wanted everybody to feel safe in that bar."
Loveal said he visited Club Q frequently and considered it a home of sorts.
"It was senseless," he said. "Something I never thought in a place I called home for many, many years would happen. It was unnecessary."
Rump was one of the reasons he felt safe there.
"He was someone you can turn to, talk to, have a good laugh with," Loveal said. "Somebody, you can just … he was very easily opened up to. And he always made you feel like you were right at home. Like you were part of the family."
Jasmine Warren was friends with both Rump and Aston.
"They were staples in the community for being out loud and vocal about being non-binary and having people be protective of each other and acknowledging our differences and respecting people and their pronouns," Warren said.
She described Rump as having "the sweetest soul" and said both were irreplaceable.
"They were beacons in our community so it’s … for me, they’re irreplaceable. We’ll never be able to fill this hole," Warren said. "It’s a very large hole that our community is gonna have to learn to live with."
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