Army Veteran Went Into 'Combat Mode' to Disarm the Club Q Gunman

[marble falls]

Army Veteran Went Into ‘Combat Mode’ to Disarm the Club Q Gunman

Richard M. Fierro, who served for 15 years in the military, was at the nightclub in Colorado Springs with his family when the gunman opened fire. “I just knew I had to take him down,” he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/us/colorado-springs-shooting-club-q-hero.html

By Dave Philipps

Nov. 21, 2022Updated 8:49 p.m. ET

COLORADO SPRINGS — Richard M. Fierro was at a table in Club Q with his wife, daughter and friends on Saturday, watching a drag show, when the sudden flash of gunfire ripped across the nightclub and instincts forged during four combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan instantly kicked in. Fight back, he told himself, protect your people.

In an interview at his house on Monday, where his wife and daughter were still recovering from injuries, Mr. Fierro, 45, who spent 15 years as an Army officer and left as a major in 2013, according to military records, described charging through the chaos at the club, tackling the gunman and beating him bloody with the gunman’s own gun.

“I don’t know exactly what I did, I just went into combat mode,” Mr. Fierro said, shaking his head as he stood in his driveway, an American flag hanging limp in the freezing air. “I just know I have to kill this guy before he kills us.”

The authorities are holding Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, on charges of killing five people, and say that 18 more people were injured in a rampage at the club that lasted only a few minutes. The death toll could have been much higher, officials said on Sunday, if patrons of the bar had not stopped the gunman.

-snip- Lots more at link.

[niyad]

1. Between Richard and the drag queen, I hope that murdering monster is in

agonizing pain for a very long time.

[NullTuples]

6. She is not a drag queen.

A careless (I hope) journalist mis-labeled a transgender woman as a drag queen & apparently nobody else thought to check on the truthfulness of it.

Link to tweet

[Dorian Gray]

2. This was one of the

most compelling NY Times stories I've read in awhile.

He's a hero, so is the drag queen who got him with their high heeled shoe.

I'm so proud of everyone who reacted in that club that night. They seem to have saved a hell of a lot of lives.

[Stuart G]

7. Yes, total ..."HERO" Saved ..."a hell of a lot of lives."

[jmowreader]

3. While this may be a terrible thing to say...

…as more information emerges as to the nature of the ass kicking Mr. Aldrich endured, I am both highly delighted that he received all the pain he deserved and thankful - for Mr. Aldrich’s sake - that I wasn’t the person who pulled him to the ground. This is because I fear that I would have killed the bastard so he could never hurt anyone again.

[marble falls]

4. Just one reason I do not own firearms. People out here just are aching to stand their ground ...

... and kill someone. We had a concealed carry asshole repair man on our property who tried to troll me into a reaction, so he could shoot me. The police said he could have used the standing ground argument if I had allowed him into braying me into a reaction.

He even called the police to say I insulted him, put hands on him, made racist remarks, homophobic insults, insulted his mother.

The temptation to pick up a 1911 Parabellum was strong. But until we get this firearms disaster under control, I will not own another firearm.

[republianmushroom]

5. a lot of people owe this man a thank you