COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As the sun set on Tuesday, dozens of people gathered outside of Club Q in Colorado Springs, two years after a mass shooting killed five people and injured more than a dozen others inside the nightclub.
“November brings a lot of things — a change of seasons, holidays around the corner," Michael Anderson, who was bartending at Club Q on the night of the shooting, said. “But for this community, as soon as November first hits, it's like a ticking time bomb waiting.”
Anderson said everyone in the community anticipates Nov. 19. Two years ago, just before midnight, a shooter entered Club Q and shattered the sense of safety many felt there.
“So many of us live with this memory, every day, with or without the anniversary. I implore the public to take this anniversary as a reminder we cannot forget," Anderson said.
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Several family members of the five people killed attended the gathering. Jeff and Sabrina Aston, Daniel Aston's parents, addressed the crowd.
“Daniel loved Club Q," Sabrina said. “He just thrived. He met so many people, had so many friends here, in the short two years that he had living here.”
“If people would just take the time to get to know each other, there will be a lot less hate and misunderstanding in the world than there is now, and things like this wouldn't happen as much," Jeff said.
Many at the vigil cannot believe it's been two years since the shooting.
“It feels like it happened yesterday," Erric Sisneros said. “We just gather here so that you remember, and other people remember, our pain is real and it won't go away... We have each other, we have love, we have who we are... That's the beautiful thing about our community, is we are loving, and we are a community, and we will be there for each other throughout.”