(NewsNation) — Victims of the 2022 Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs filed two lawsuits against the club and the El Paso Board of Commissioners Office two days before the second anniversary of the event that left five dead and 19 injured.
Eleven plaintiffs, including surviving victims and family members of victims who died, are suing, alleging authorities could have enforced the “red flag law” against the gunman to prevent the shooting.
“The shooter had a history of violent threats and behavior that clearly warranted intervention,” the suits say.
The red flag law, officially the Extreme Risk Protection Orders, was passed in 2019, three years before the Club Q shooting on Nov. 19, 2022.
It allows law enforcement to request a temporary “extreme risk protection order” from the court against a person proved to be a “significant risk to self or others by having a firearm in his or her custody,” the bill says.
The same year the law passed, the El Paso County Board of Commissioners designated the county a “Second Amendment sanctuary city.”
The shooter, Anderson Aldrich, was arrested in 2021 on charges of kidnapping and threatening to kill their grandparents, reportedly saying they would become the “next mass killer,” according to the Associated Press. Aldrich, who uses they/them pronouns, was also accused of collecting ammunition, bomb-making materials, firearms and body armor, according to court documents.
Authorities did not attempt to remove Aldrich’s weapons using a red flag law, the lawsuits allege, and, “This deliberate inaction allowed the shooter continued access to firearms, directly enabling the attack on Club Q.”
The shooter was sentenced to life in prison in June.
“The 2022 mass shooting at Club Q is one of the most violent crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community in history,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a news release in June. “The FBI and our partners have worked tirelessly towards this sentencing, but the true heroes are the patrons of the Club who selflessly acted to subdue the defendant.”
The lawsuit also alleges the club did not have enough security and did not take the necessary steps to prepare.
“Club Q advertised itself as a ‘safe place’ for LGBTQIA+ individuals,” the suits say. “But that was a facade.”
Deceased victims include Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump and Ashley Paugh.
Survivor Barrett Hudson and Vance’s family members are some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
