All five victims of anti-LGBTQ+ Colorado Springs mass shooting identified
The five victims of the Colorado Springs shooting were remembered at the one year anniversary of the attack this week. (Getty/Twitter)
All five victims of the horrific shooting which “tore apart” Club Q in Colorado Springs have now been formally identified.
Bartenders Daniel Aston and Derrick Rump, as well as trans patron Kelly Loving were named shortly after the shooting, with the two remaining victims, Ashley Paugh and Raymond Green Vance, named in the following days.
Five people were killed and at least 25 injured after a shooter, named by police as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, opened fire in LGBTQ+ venue Club Q on Saturday (19 November).
The Colorado Springs shooting was stopped after a brave patron grabbed Aldrich’s gun and hit him with it, before they and another patron pinned the gunman down until police arrived.
— RIP Ashley Paugh, Raymond Green, Daniel Davis Aston, Derrick Rump and Kelly Loving 💔 and all victims of homophobia, transphobia and queerphobia MURDERED BY HATE 💔 #whatisrememberedlives pic.twitter.com/TnYxv7V9Df
— THE AIDS MEMORIAL (@theaidsmemorial) November 22, 2022
Ashley Paugh, 35, was a mother to an 11-year-old daughter, and was described as a “loving, caring” person.
According to her sister, Stephanie Clark, Paugh was not part of the LGBTQ+ community, but had come to Club Q with a friend to see a stand-up comedian.
Clark told NBC News that Paugh’s daughter is “devastated”, adding that Paugh had “lived for her daughter”.
She told the outlet: “It just doesn’t seem real… We’re heartbroken. We’re sad. We’re mad, angry.
“Nothing will ever be the same without her.
“Right now, I don’t want to laugh. She was a loving, caring person who would do anything for anybody. We’re gonna miss her so much.”
Raymond Green Vance: He/Him pic.twitter.com/Koxkn6Iaft
— Colorado Springs Police Department (@CSPDPIO) November 21, 2022
Raymond Green Vance, 22, attended Club Q with his girlfriend of five years, reportedly saving her life by hiding her during the shooting.
He reportedly didn’t identify as LGBTQ+, but was an “ally”.
Richard Fierro, his girlfriend’s father and one of the patrons who stopped the shooter by disarming him, told the Denver Post: “He grabbed my daughter and they went and hid… he saved my daughter’s life.”
He added that Vance had been “smiling and dancing like a kid” before the shooting.
“My daughter got to spend a last day with him, happy,” he said.
His family described him in a statement as “a kind, selfless young adult with his entire life ahead of him.”
They added: “His absence will leave irreparable heartbreak in countless lives… Raymond will be missed unbearably.”
‘He had so much more life to give’
Daniel Aston, 28, secured his bartending job at Club Q in August 2020, having recently moved back to his hometown of Colorado Springs from Oklahoma.
His mother Sabrina spoke to Colorado Public Radio (CPR) shortly after the deadly shooting, claiming that he was the “happiest he had ever been” while working at Club Q.
“He was thriving and having fun and having friends. It’s just unbelievable. He had so much more life to give to us and to all his friends and to himself.”
She added that, as anti-trans rhetoric skyrocketed across the US, she worried for her son’s safety, who first “knew he was trans” at aged four.
“I always worried about it,” she said. “He’s a trans man and the trans community are really the biggest targets I can think about it right now.”
The biggest smiles when I’m in my hometown pic.twitter.com/tglUjLnsMH— franken-tits (@dr_wormm) October 11, 2022
Derrick Rump worked alongside Aston as a bartender at Club Q, also performing as a drag artist.
Shadavia Green, another Club Q bartender, shared on Facebook: “You were more than some guy I worked with. You were family. You didn’t deserve to go out like this.
“I’ll keep memories of you in my heart. Thank you for being so kind, and considerate of me. Thank you for helping me grow as a bartender, having my back when I lacked confidence and keeping me laughing when I was down.
“You worked hard and made all of our lives more enjoyable with you in the room.”
Rump’s friend Anthony Jaramillo added to CBS: “I guess I’m just waiting for someone to be like, ‘Oh, it’s the wrong Derrick’… When I went to Club Q, Derrick was going to be there guaranteed every time.”
The tragedy of it is mind numbing. Two bartenders…two co-workers…two friends, Derrick Rump and Daniel Aston, were among the five killed at Club Q in Colorado Springs. pic.twitter.com/Pq9gSriY8J— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) November 20, 2022
Kelly Loving, a trans woman, had reportedly recently moved to Denver, Colorado, and was visiting Club Q on a weekend trip to the area.
Her sister, Tiffany Loving, told the New York Times that she was a “caring” and “loving” person.
“She was loving, always trying to help the next person out instead of thinking of herself. She just was a caring person,” she said.
Her friend Natalee Skye Bingham added on social media: “I’m so devastated because she was such a good person.
“She was going to be at my house for Thanksgiving this upcoming Thursday and, now, it’s one less person at my table.”
Kelly Loving was killed in the Colorado Springs shooting. (Twitter)
