{"id":37080,"date":"2022-11-28T12:19:19","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T19:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-shooting-victim-wanted-to-save-the-family-i-found\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T19:19:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T19:19:19","slug":"colorado-shooting-victim-wanted-to-save-the-family-i-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-shooting-victim-wanted-to-save-the-family-i-found\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado shooting victim \u2018wanted to save the family I found\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"This
This photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Thomas James in Centura Penrose Hospital on Saturday, Nov. 26, in Colorado Springs. (U.S. Navy via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

COLORADO SPRINGS \u2013 A member of the U.S. Navy who was injured while helping prevent further harm during a shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado last weekend said Sunday that he \u201csimply wanted to save the family that I found.\u201d<\/p>\n

Petty Officer 2nd Class Thomas James made his first public comments on the shooting in a statement issued through Centura Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, where James is recovering from undisclosed injuries suffered during the attack.<\/p>\n

Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said that James was one of two men who helped to stop the shooter who walked into Club Q late on Nov. 19 with multiple firearms, including a semi-automatic rifle, and killed five people. At least 17 others were injured when a drag queen\u2019s birthday celebration turned into a massacre.<\/p>\n

James reportedly pushed a rifle out of the shooter\u2019s reach while Army veteran Rich Fierro repeatedly struck the shooter with a handgun the shooter brought into the bar, officials have said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had my way, I would shield everyone I could from the nonsensical acts of hate in the world, but I am only one person,\u201d James said in a statement. \u201cThankfully, we are a family and family looks after one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrons of Club Q have said the bar offered them a community where they felt celebrated, but that the shooting shook their sense of safety.<\/p>\n

The shooting suspect \u2013 Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22 \u2013 was visibly injured during his initial court appearance on Wednesday. He was ordered held without bail. Formal charges have not been filed and Aldrich has not spoken about the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to support everyone who has known the pain and loss that have been all too common these past few years,\u201d James said. \u201cMy thoughts are with those we lost on Nov. 19, and those who are still recovering from their injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man elected governor in the United States, appeared on two Sunday morning TV shows saying he would support increasing licensing requirements for semi-automatic weapons, improving mental health services and better use of red flag laws that allow courts to remove weapons from people having mental health crises and who may be a danger to themselves and others. He also urged the toning down of anti-LGBTQ political rhetoric.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that when people are saying incendiary things, somebody who\u2019s not well-balanced can hear those things, and think that what they\u2019re doing is heroic when it\u2019s actually a horrific crime that kills innocent people,\u201d Polis said on NBC\u2019s \u2018Meet the Press.\u2019<\/p>\n

James ended the statement by urging young members of the LGBTQ community to be brave.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour family is out there. You are loved and valued,\u201d James said. \u201cSo when you come out of the closet, come out swinging.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

officer recovering in hospital<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-37080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37080"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=37080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}