After the attack on a nightclub of the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs, USA, with five dead and 18 injured, the alleged perpetrator could face murder charges as well as hate crime charges.
As it became known on Monday, the El Paso District Attorney's Office is investigating whether 22-year-old Anderson Lee A. stormed "Club Q" on Sunday night because he rejected visitors because of their sexual orientation.
The nightclub in Colorado Springs, south of Denver, has a population of around 500,000 and mainly counts gays, lesbians and transgender people among its guests.
The shooter also carried out the attack on the night of Transgender Day of Remembrance, the memorial day for injured or killed trans people.
According to previous investigations, A. opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle shortly before midnight.
Eventually, two guests, including a former soldier, managed to overpower the shooter and take his rifle and a handgun from him.
The shooter, who has not yet provided any information about the crime, is injured in the hospital.
Meanwhile, the first allegations against the police and the public prosecutor's office were made.
As became known, A. had already been arrested last year after threats against his mother.
Although the then 21-year-old allegedly announced that he would use homemade explosive devices and firearms against them, the judicial authorities declined the opportunity to confiscate his weapons.
Against the background of the shooting in Colorado Springs, the organization Gun Violence Archive referred on Monday to the sharp increase in the number of so-called mass shootings with at least four fatalities in the United States.
For the third year in a row, more than 600 of the crimes were counted in 2022.
In 2014, around 270 mass shootings were registered.
GVA has now included the attack on “Club Q” in its database as the 601st mass shooting of 2022.