“I think you can say from the facts that it is very difficult to imagine a situation where the motive did not come from hatred,” Phil Weiser said Monday morning (local time) on CNN. The Colorado Springs bombing over the weekend killed 5 people and injured 25 others.
According to initial findings, the alleged shooter was overpowered by a guest and taken to hospital for treatment. Weiser stressed that the investigation was still ongoing and he could not provide details. When asked, the Attorney General declined to say whether the attacker has spoken to police in the meantime. Police Chief Adrian Vasquez told the New York Times on Sunday that the shooter had not spoken to police.
According to police, the 22-year-old man entered the club with an assault rifle and pistol and immediately began firing. He didn’t say a word about it. A guest was able to take a gun from the man and hit him with it, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told the New York Times. “He saved dozens and dozens of lives,” one of the club’s owners, Matthew Haynes, said at a short memorial service. The attack was over after about a minute, police chief Vasquez said.
The attack took place on the night of Transgender Day, a day that commemorates victims of transphobia. In the club called Club Q, a transgender party with a transvestite show was scheduled that night, local broadcaster KRDO reports. According to Vasquez, there were no previous threats against the club.
“We live in a time of increasing hatred and increasing demonization,” warned Attorney General Weiser. The “legitimization of hate” towards the LGBTQ community must stop. To say that certain people have no place in society is a “dangerous path” and creates the conditions for violence.
After the police released the name of the attacker, it was revealed that he had sparked a police operation last year by threatening his mother with a bomb, according to official documents. At first it remained unclear what happened to him at the time and how he got his weapons.
The club called on its Facebook page to raise money for the victims. In interviews with local broadcasters, guests described the venue as the only club of its kind in Colorado Springs that had provided them with a “safe haven” where they could be themselves.
Police had initially spoken of 18 injured. During the day, she corrected the number to 25, broadcasters CNN and KKTV reported. It was initially unclear how many people were in the club at the time of the crime. According to the owners – possibly due to the cold weather – it was not as busy as usual on Saturday evening.
KRDO spoke of one of the largest police operations in Colorado Springs history. The police emphasized that after the first report came in three minutes before midnight, the suspect was arrested at 00:02.
US President Joe Biden has expressed his condolences to the victims and their families. He stressed that the gay, lesbian and trans community in America has experienced “terrific violence” in recent years. “We must not tolerate hate,” Biden wrote in a statement, reiterating his call for tougher gun laws.
In 2016, 49 people were killed in an attack on Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, popular with the LGBTQ community. The gunman claimed responsibility for the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS).
LGBT is the English abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. The variants LGBTQ, LGBTQI or LGBTQIA+ are also often used. Each letter represents a separate gender identity or sexual orientation.
(SDA)