Veteran credited with taking down Membership Q gunman says he 'simply went into fight mode'

Richard Fierro, an Military veteran, stated he “went into fight mode” when a gunman opened hearth Saturday night time inside an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo., killing 5. 

In an interview with The New York Occasions revealed Monday, Fierro, who left the Military in 2013, stated he was watching a drag present at Membership Q along with his spouse, daughter and buddies when the primary photographs rang out. He says he confronted the gunman as he noticed him head towards the patio space, the place patrons fled when the capturing started. 

Fierro, 45, stated that he ran throughout the room, grabbed the gunman by a deal with of the physique armor that he was carrying, pulled him down and jumped on high of him. 

“Was he capturing on the time? Was he about to shoot? I don’t know,” Fierro, whose account reportedly matches with that of different witnesses and safety footage, advised the Occasions. “I simply knew I needed to take him down.”

Fierro added that he grabbed a pistol the gunman was carrying and began to hit him within the head with it repeatedly, asking for different patrons to assist him subdue the suspect as a person grabbed the rifle used within the capturing and moved it out of the suspect’s grasp, whereas a drag dancer repeatedly stomped on the person.

“I don’t know precisely what I did, I simply went into fight mode,” Fierro advised the Occasions. “I simply know I’ve to kill this man earlier than he kills us.”

Fierro, who was coated in blood after the altercation, stated that he was initially detained by authorities and spent an hour handcuffed inside a police car, pleading to be let go so he may examine on his relations. 

Authorities have named Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, because the lone suspect in Saturday’s bloodbath. On Monday, he was hit with 5 homicide prices and 5 prices of committing a bias-motivated crime that brought about harm.

Authorities stated that Aldrich, who was taken to a close-by medical facility for the accidents he sustained, was additionally arrested final yr for making a number of threats towards his mom.