Police have identified all the victims of the horrific Club Q mass shooting that happened on November 19 in Colorado Springs.
The gunman left five people dead and another 19 wounded. Additionally, the LGBTQ+ community has been rocked by yet another violent hate crime.
"Too often society loses track of the victims of these sad and tragic events in all the talk of the suspect," Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said at a Monday afternoon news conference. "We strive to give the victims the dignity and respect they deserve."
Daniel Aston
Daniel Aston was the first to be confirmed as a fatality in Saturday’s massacre. The 28 year old transgender man worked as supervisor and entertainer at Club Q. In an interview with the Denver Post, Aston’s mother said, ““He had so much more life to give to us, and to all his friends and to himself.
“He always said, ‘I’m shy,’ but he wasn’t. He wrote poetry. He loved to dress up. He got into drama in high school. He’s an entertainer. That’s what he really loves.”
Derrick Rump
Fellow Club Q bartender and co-owner Derrick Rump was also killed in the shooting. Anthony Jaramillo, a friend of Rump, told CBS News he was the life of the bar.
"Loving, supportive, with a heavy hand in his drink pouring, and just a really good listener and would not be afraid to tell you when you were wrong instead of telling you what you wanted to hear and that was really valuable," Jaramillo said.
Kelly Loving
Another victim was Kelly Loving, who had recently celebrated her 40th birthday. Loving who is transgender was described as a motherly figure by her friends.
“She was like a trans mother to me,” Natalee Skye Bingham said to the Denver Post. “She came into my life at a special moment where I was so down and didn’t believe in myself.”
Ashley Paugh
Ashley Paugh, a loving wife and nonprofit organizer for foster children also did not make it out of the club alive. She leaves behind an 11 year-old daughter and husband.
In a phone interview with NBC, Paugh’s sister Stephanie Clark got emotional while discussing Paugh’s death. "It just doesn't seem real," Clark said. "We're heartbroken. We're sad. We're mad, angry."
Raymond Green Vance
Raymond Green Vance, 22, who died in the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, was described by his family as "a kind, selfless young adult with his entire life ahead of him."
Vance had never been to the LGBTQ+ nightclub before Saturday night, when he went to enjoy a show and celebrate a birthday with his longtime girlfriend, her parents and her parents'
Police have also identified the suspect in shooting as Anderson Lee Aldrich, a 22-year-old who faces five counts of first-degree murder and five-counts of a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury in connection to the shooting at Club Q.
The nightclub was celebrating Transgender Day of Remembrance the night of the shooting. The annual observance mourns those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia as well as draw attention to the continued violence targeting transgender people.
“They were doing, like, a celebration of life for those people that had died,” Sabrina Aston, told The Associated Press. “And instead, they lost their lives.”
To help the families of those lost, please donate to the Colorado Healing Fund’s collection for the Club Q tragedy.
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