The gunman who opened fire at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs on Saturday night was subdued by a patron who snatched a handgun from the shooter and struck him with the firearm, according to the city’s mayor.
Mayor John Suthers told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Sunday that police were called to Club Q at 11:57 p.m. and responded within three minutes.
But the deadly shooting, which claimed the lives of five people and injured at least 25 others, was over by the time police arrived at 12:02 a.m. because of two “heroic” individuals who took down the gunman before officers arrived, Suthers said.
“[The patron] appears to have taken a handgun, [the suspect] had a handgun with him, and used it to disable him,” Suthers said on CNN, clarifying the patron hit him with the weapon and did not pull the trigger to fire it.
“But for that — as tragic as this incident is, it’s a horrible crime — it could have been much, much worse.”
Once the suspect was on the ground, another person rushed to help pin him and hold him down, according to The New York Times.
The suspect, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, is being treated for his injuries at a local hospital.
Police say Aldrich, who appears to have made bomb threats to his mother last year, opened fire with a long gun at Club Q, a popular LGBTQ bar in the area.
Aldrich was wearing body armor and was equipped with an AR-15-style rifle, according to The New York Times.
The shooting came on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, honoring trans people murdered because of transphobia.
It also echoed the 2016 shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., which left 49 people dead. LGBTQ leaders have condemned the shooting and called for an end to anti-LGBTQ hate speech.
Police said they have not yet identified a motive behind the attack.
Suthers said in a statement on Sunday morning that Colorado Springs was a “strong community that has shown resilience in the face of hate and violence in the past, and we will do that again.”
“As a community, we will provide for the victims and witnesses of this horrific event and law enforcement will pursue this case with the zealousness that the case deserves,” Suthers said.