Tiara Latrice Kelley was scheduled to perform at a brunch honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance on Sunday at Club Q in Colorado Springs, so she just barely missed the shootings that clamed five lives and left 18 other people injured.
Kelley did perform Friday night at the club and feels "sick" about the shootings Saturday night. She said she was up all night.
Her friend, Hysteria, who was deejaying and in the building during the shooting told her that theshooter came into the bar around 11:57 p.m. Saturday and opened fire.
"She said he walked in and didn’t say anything, he just started shooting," Kelley said. "She has heard that one of the bartenders was killed."
"Every time I close my eyes I keep thinking about what I imagine it must have looked like," said Kelley. "It’s crazy. It’s absolutely crazy."
A drag artist who identifies as "Del Lusional" on Twitter posted these remarks:
"I never thought this would happen to me and my bar. I don’t know what to do with myself. I can’t stop hearing the shots.
"This doesn’t feel real. Like at all.
"Walking through the bar that I call my home and seeing it…… like that……
"I went from being so proud of myself for what I accomplished tonight, to…. This. I hate this so much."
"I feel so sick."
Joshua Thurman, who was at Club Q during the shooting, speaks Sunday about what happened. “I lost friends,” he said. “I’m not OK.”
Joshua Thurman, 34, was at the nightclub Saturday night celebrating his birthday. He heard three to four shots while he was dancing and initially thought it was the music. When he heard more shots, Thurman said he ran to a nearby dressing room where he and other club patrons hid.
Thurman said the club was an LGBTQ space "and now we don't even have that anymore."
"What are we to do? How do we move on from this?" Thurman asked. "We're shattered. We're broken. ..."
Thurman said he wants the shooter brought to justice. "It won't bring anyone back, but the person who did this needs to answer for his crime," Thurman said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Colorado Springs police initially reported early Sunday that five people had died and 18 were wounded, then changed it to five dead and another 25 wounded. On Monday, a joint operation between police and the city of Colorado Springs corrected the totals to five fatalities, and 17 people sustained gunshot wounds, another person injured in another manner and one victim with no visible injuries but considered a victim, according to city spokesman Max D'Onofrio. The situation was very chaotic on Sunday, D'Onofrio said, which led to the change in numbers. The suspect also was wounded and remains in police custody in a local hospital. He brings the total to 25 people impacted.
