How The Night Of The Colorado Springs Mass Shooting Unfolded

Daniel Aston and Derrick Rump, who performed and bartended at the club, were also killed, along with patrons Kelly Loving and Ashley Paugh. Eighteen other people were injured, including Barrett Hudson, who was shot seven times.

New to town, he’d been checking out Club Q for the first time. When he heard the gunshots, he thought at first that balloons were popping. After about seven pops, he knew something was wrong, he told CNN.

“I looked to my right and the door had shut and the gunman is standing there,” Hudson told CNN. “And this dude … took a step or two back from him, and the gunman murdered him right in front of me.”

“Everyone took off running,” Hudson told CNN. “I took off running to the back and I got shot. I knew I got shot a few times. I fell down. He proceeded to shoot me. I got back up.”

In an Instagram video from his hospital bed, Hudson said he was shot seven times in the back. He made it out of the club and, in spite of his injuries, managed to get over a fence and run across the street to a gas station, where people inside helped to stop the bleeding until paramedics arrived.

Joshua Thurman was dancing when the shooting began, he told KOAA.

“I thought it was the music, so I kept dancing. Then I heard another set of shots and then me and a customer ran to the dressing room, got on the ground and locked the doors, and called the police immediately,” Thurman said.

The suspect, identified as 22-year-old Anderson Aldrich, was taken to a hospital after police arrived. On Tuesday, Aldrich was transferred to El Paso County Jail and is scheduled to appear virtually in court on Wednesday. Preliminary charges include murder and hate crimes.

Club Q has been closed since the shooting that turned it into a crime scene. In a statement on Monday, its owners called out anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and urged people to join them in taking a stand.