A loving friend. A straight shooter. A “star bartender.” An out-and-proud gay man.
The superlatives poured in from friends and Club Q patrons following the news that Derrick Rump, a bartender at the LGBTQ+ nightclub in east Colorado Springs, was one of five people killed Saturday in a mass shooting that also left 18 people injured.
Rump, 38, was a native of Kutztown, Pa., who worked at several jobs in and around Colorado Springs — including Colorado College and the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo — before finding a home as a bartender at Club Q in 2018, friends said.
“I really believe he was the star bartender in Colorado Springs,” said Greg Resha, a former club DJ. “But more than that, we thought of Derrick as the heart of Club Q.”
Rump was a patron at the club for years before taking a job there, Resha said. He could be shy in some situations, but he was a natural behind the bar and often the person who initiated the dancing.
“He would be the one to get everybody out of their seats,” said Resha, who has started a GoFundMe account to help the victims. “Derrick would get people out of their chairs and on the dance floor.”
Two days after the tragedy, dozens of people milled around near the corner of Academy Boulevard and North Carefree Circle, which was as close as they were allowed to the club. The shooting site is still an active crime scene.
“It’s terrible to know that somebody can just … make people disappear,” Resha said.
Hundreds of flowers and dozens of signs lined the street as mourners hugged one another and shed tears for the victims. Most of the people knew Rump and considered him a friend.
“He was open and loving, and one of the most down-to-earth people you could ever meet,” said Christina, a Club Q regular. “He was always there with a smile or a joke, and he made everyone feel at home there.”
Other people described Rump as lively, generous and unapologetic about who he was.
“He was a tough-love kind of person,” said patron Alex Gallagher. “He would tell you what you needed to hear, not what you wanted to hear. But he did it in a loving way.”
As police continue to investigate the mass shooting, patrons wondered about the future of Club Q.
“I’m not sure it will be able to reopen after something like this,” Gallagher said.
But members of the LGBTQ+ community, while saddened by the tragedy, were also defiant. Whether the club reopens or not, many people said they will continue to gather and celebrate publicly.
“We’re not going into hiding,” Christina said. “If anything, we’ll come back stronger.”
That’s precisely what Rump would have wanted, Resha said.
“If Derrick were here, he wouldn’t be hiding,” he said. “He would be out in the streets, screaming and shouting.”