Category: Murder

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Nov 21 (Reuters) – Colorado Springs officials on Monday identified the five shooting victims who died and the two heroes who prevented further bloodshed at the LGBTQ nightclub where a gunman opened fire on Saturday night.

Another 17 people were wounded by gunfire in the rampage. Police said they had yet to determine a motive, but the city’s mayor and LGBTQ rights groups said the attack bore the hallmarks of a hate crime. The suspected shooter, a 22-year-old man, remained under arrest at a hospital, presumably for injuries sustained when a decorated former Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran pummeled him in a successful effort to stop the assault at Club Q in Colorado’s second-largest city.

Club Q, one of the only places for LGBTQ people to gather in Colorado Springs, attracted a diverse crowd of queer people and straight allies. On Sunday, which was Transgender Day of Remembrance, the club was planning to mark the occasion with a “drag brunch” and a nighttime show “with a variety of gender identities and performance styles.”

Police held him on initial charges including five counts of first-degree murder and bias crimes, but prosecutors said they expected to file formal criminal charges that may differ once he is out of the hospital. The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, was known to law enforcement, having been arrested in June 2021 after his mother reported he threatened to detonate a bomb and harm her with multiple weapons, according to a news release from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez instead tried to focus Monday’s news conference on the victims. He identified the dead as Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh and Raymond Green Vance.

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers also paid tribute to the heroes who rushed the shooter: Richard Fierro and Thomas James. Fierro is a U.S. Army veteran who did three tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

“I’m straight. My kids are straight, but we go there … Why? Because it’s about community,” Fierro told reporters. When the shooting broke out, Fierro said he rushed the gunman, pulled him to the ground, then grabbed the gunman’s pistol and hit him with it. James helped by removing the shooter’s rifle, which Fierro described as an AR, and kicking him. Meanwhile a drag performer stomped him with high heels, Fierro said.

“I wish I could have done more,” Fierro said. “But those (five) people aren’t home tonight, and I am. And I’m really upset by that. It’s not something I’m proud of.”

source

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Nov 21 (Reuters) – A decorated Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who had taken his family to support a drag show performer who was one of his daughter’s friends said his U.S. Army training took over when gunfire broke out at a Colorado LGBTQ club.

“It’s the reflex,” Rich Fierro told reporters gathered on the snow-covered front yard of his suburban Colorado Springs home Monday evening. “Go. Go to the fire. Stop the action. Stop the activity. Don’t let no one get hurt.”

Fierro described grabbing the suspect by the armor the gunman was wearing, dragging him down and using the shooter’s pistol to beat him late Saturday after five people were killed and at least 17 wounded. The dead included the boyfriend of Fierro’s daughter, identified by Colorado Springs police as Raymond Green Vance.

At an earlier news conference, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers had identified Fierro as one of “two heroes,” along with Thomas James, who “saved a lot of lives” at Club Q in Colorado Springs. Fierro said many others deserved credit, including a young man who had been dancing with his daughter and dragged her to safety when the shooting started, and a drag performer who kicked the gunman with her high heels as Fierro held him down.

“I’m not a hero,” Fierro said. “I’m just some dude.”

Officials did not elaborate on the men’s actions, and Fierro’s comments provided details investigators have not spoken about. Fierro said he was detained for about an hour by police who found him with a pistol in his hand in the confused aftermath of the shooting. He mourned his daughter’s boyfriend, who he said he had known since his daughter was in high school.

“He’s a good kid. And I loved him,” Fierro said.

The wounded included a couple, close friends of Fierro who have two young children.

“I wish I could have saved everybody in there,” Fierro said. “I wish I could have done more.”

Fierro and his wife Jess Fierro own a Colorado Springs brewery. Their Atrevida Beer Company was closed on Monday as family members gathered at their home in a quiet Colorado Springs suburb to mourn. Jess Fierro had said earlier that her husband’s hands, knees and an ankle were injured in the struggle with the gunman.

Speaking from her doorstep, Jess Fierro told Reuters the violence sparked her husband’s post traumatic stress disorder. Rich Fierro served 14 years in the military and was awarded the Bronze Star twice as he served as a field artillery officer during three tours of Iraq and a tour of Afghanistan, U.S. Army records show.

source

EXCLUSIVE: Richard “Buster” Murdaugh Jr.— the lone surviving son of disgraced South Carolina lawyer and accused killer Alex Murdaugh — is living a quiet life with his longtime girlfriend in a resort town ahead of his father’s hotly anticipated murder trial, Fox News Digital has learned. “They’re a really nice couple,” said a neighbor, who wasn’t aware of Buster’s identity or tragic family circumstances. “They always smile and say, hi.”

Buster, and Brooklynn White, both 26, live with their beloved golden retriever, Miller, in a modest one-bedroom Hilton Head Island condominium — a far cry from the sprawling 1,700-acre hunting farm, known as Moselle, where he grew up in Islandton, South Carolina. Alex, 54, is accused of fatally shooting Buster’s only sibling, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh, and their 52-year-old mother, Maggie Murdaugh, June 7, 2021, near the estate’s dog kennels.

The fallen patriarch is slated to go to trial Jan. 23 for the shocking double homicide. Buster has continued to support his disbarred and jailed father. On Tuesday morning, Buster, wearing a downcast expression, pulled up in his gray GMC Yukon outside the apartment, then carried a basket of laundry inside before leaving.

The home, which features a blue Marlin decoration on the front porch, is in a complex with a communal pool, a tennis court and a gym. It’s unclear when Buster and White began dating — but she accompanied him to the joint funeral of Paul and Maggie, according to a source.

She was seen comforting her beau as he cried at the service, and she affectionately interacted with his father, the source added. White, who’s from Rock Hill, South Carolina, bought the Hilton Head condo for $180,000 in July 2021 after landing her first job out of law school at Olivetti McCray & Withrow, where she specializes in probate and estate planning, according to the firm’s website.

She declined to answer questions Wednesday morning on her boyfriend’s state or the case against his father, politely responding to several requests for comment with a simple, “No, ma’am.” The apartment on Hilton Head, a vacation destination known for its pristine beaches and golf courses, is about 70 miles from Buster’s childhood home.

White attended the University of South Carolina Law School alongside Buster, who was allegedly kicked out in his second semester for plagiarism, the Wall Street Journal reported. Alex paid an attorney $60,000 to try to get Buster readmitted, according to FitsNews.

Read more