DENVER — For the first time since filing two separate lawsuits against the El Paso County Board of Commissioners, former El Paso Sheriff Bill Elder, Club Q owners and companies that did business with them, Denver7 heard firsthand Tuesday from survivors and families of the victims as they marked two years since the massacre at the LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs.
"Our lives forever changed on November 19, 2022," said Ashtin Gamblin, who survived the Club Q shooting exactly two years ago.
"I was shot multiple times that night, a night that changed my life forever," Charlene Slaugh said. "Harder still are the nights," her brother, James — who was with her when the mass shooting occurred — added.
"I continue to go through real, true agony," said Adriana Vance, who lost her son, Raymond Green, in the shooting.
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Gamblin, the Slaughs, and Vance all detailed the pain they've endured since the Club Q shooting that fateful day in November during a news conference earlier Tuesday in which attorneys for the victims and their families explained why these lawsuits were being filed two years later.
"Government actors failed to act on clear, credible warnings about the shooter's violent intentions, choosing to prioritize political opposition to the Red Flag Law over public safety," said Patrick Huber, a senior attorney for Romanucci and Blandin.
Attorneys told Denver7 they're suing the El Paso County Board of Commissioners for "opposing the red flag law" and the former El Paso County sheriff for "adopting a policy opposing the red flag law".
In the lawsuit, attorneys claim that despite clear warning signs from the shooter, including a statement made in 2021 saying they would be the "next mass killer", law enforcement ignored the signs and failed to confiscate their weapons.
"I really think that El Paso County and everybody else needs to accept their responsibility," Gamblin said.
The first nearly 70-page lawsuit goes beyond just blaming El Paso County officials. It targets Club Q owners for what it calls "inadequate security" at the time of the shooting.
"They failed to provide armed protection and failed to implement industry standard security measures, including metal detectors, pat downs, external security or monitored surveillance," said Sarah Raisch, a senior attorney with Romanucci and Blandin. "The building itself lacked basic security measures, including proper exit doors. They were blocked."
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A second lawsuit, which was filed by Barrett Hudson, another Club Q shooting survivor, makes the same claims.
Their attorney, Brad Bufkin of the Bufkin & Schneider Law firm, detailed the hardship Hudson has endured since the shooting.
"Mr. Hudson has three bullets in his body and they will remain there until the day he dies because it's too dangerous to remove them," Bufkin said. "His life is now prescriptions and doctors appointments."
For survivors of the tragedy, however, the wounds remain two years later.
"I still feel anger and my heart is not mended," Vance said. "People say time heals, and to me, that's so cheap, it's just a cliché."
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