Pueblo stands in solidarity with Colorado Springs after Club Q mass shooting through memorial
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- While Pueblo might be roughly an hour away from where the Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub mass shooting happened, many residents of the Steel City told KRDO Club Q was a place they're familiar with.
The people we spoke to said they'd been to the Colorado Springs nightclub before and are heartbroken over the tragedy.
Sunday, a candlelight vigil was held at the El Pueblo History Museum in honor of the five victims that lost their lives in the mass shooting at Club Q over the weekend. More than 100 people gathered at the museum.
The President of the Southern Colorado Equality Alliance Tommy Farrell said he organized the Pueblo memorial to make sure members of the LGBTQ+ community had a safe space to mourn and grieve the loss of their loved ones.
"We didn't want to take up any space that Colorado Springs needed because they are our neighbors. But we saw that people did need to come together in Pueblo as well. And I think that it was good for people to have a sense of community, come together and be able to process some of this," said Farrell.
Farrell said many Pueblo residents go to Club Q.
"In Pueblo, we have a lot of people who travel the Springs and go to Club Q who also know people who were killed or injured or were there," said Farrell. "These are our neighbors and our family members."
Farrell said after this tragedy, members of the LGBTQ+ community are scared.
"The LGBTQ community faces persecution frequently, and I don't want to say that we're used to it, but we've gotten to a point where we know it's part of our life."
According to Farrell, the Southern Colorado Equality Alliance has resources available in Pueblo if anyone needs them. He said there is a weekly support group for LGBTQ youth that meets every Friday.
Also, they have a transgender support group called Trans Generations that meets twice monthly. They also have a support and social group for LGBTQ+ people 50 and older. They also have a 24-hour crisis and support line.
The Director of the El Pueblo History Museum, Dianne Archuleta, said people have been stopping by every day since the candlelight vigil Sunday to pay their respects to the men and women who lost their lives.
"The community can continue to come in and leave something or just drop in, spend a little time with the altar that we created," said Archuleta.
The memorial will stay in Pueblo until Saturday if anyone needs a safe space to mourn and grieve the tragedy.
