Raleigh bar owner calls for stricter gun laws after mass shooting kills 5 at Colorado nightclub

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A local bar owner in Raleigh is calling for better gun laws following a mass shooting that left five people dead at a Colorado nightclub Saturday.

"It's a travesty that could be avoided easily by voting for non anti-queer, transphobic, queerphobic politicians. Prioritizing people's safety by voting for better gun control," Timothy Lemuel, owner of Ruby Deluxe said.

Police in Colorado Springs said more than a dozen people were hurt in Saturday night's shooting at Club-Q, when a 22-year-old gunman entered an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Colorado Springs police said the gunman, identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, entered before midnight Saturday and immediately opened fire, killing at least five people and injuring 25 others, before patrons confronted and stopped him.

Triangle resident Candis Cox with LGBTQ Center of Durham, said seven bullets hit her friend, who was on vacation, in his back as he attempted to run from the shooter. Cox's friend told her it happened minutes after Aldrich shot another victim in the face at close range.

"My friend took off running toward the back door, and got hit seven times, and made it outside. And somehow made it over a little fence and landed in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven that they keep showing. And called his father, 'cause he thought he was dying. He was bleeding out and everything, so he called his father, told his father goodbye," Cox said.

Cox's friend was rescued by a couple who saw him lying in that parking lot, and he has undergone surgery.

Equality North Carolina released a statement Sunday in response to Saturday's shooting

Last night, a gunman attacked Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing 5 people and injuring 18 more.

Today, we cannot begin to make sense of senseless violence, although we know that this is the result of the right's culture war and the subsequent demonization of our people. From Wilmington to Apex to the Blue Ridge prides this year, we've seen a recurring pattern of violence and intimidation from far-right groups, who are responding to mounting political hate speech that attacks our very right to exist. This violence is underscored by hundreds of bills nationwide targeting our children, our trans children.

This shooting coincides with today's Trans Day of Remembrance, a day for the commemoration of trans lives lost due to violence. We cannot even mourn our dead or celebrate our resistance without being massacred in our safe spaces.

There's still a lot we don't know, but we do know this: we are under attack. Misinformation and hate speech broadcast by some of our most powerful leaders has emboldened extremists. The result is clear: from death threats to pride organizers to bombings of bakeries hosting drag brunches, LGBTQ+ communities have been targeted across the country. Yesterday's shooting is a horrifying escalation and a predictable outcome.

So while we grieve those who were killed in this act of senseless violence, we at ENC commit to protecting our communities from hate, today and every day, in honor of those whom we've lost.

Holding our community in love today.