Trans woman Kelly Loving has been named among the victims murdered in the Colorado nightclub shooting, as the venue marked TDOR
One of the victims of the anti-LGBT mass shooting at a Colorado queer club over the weekend (November 19) has been identified as a trans woman named Kelly Loving.
Her sister, Tiffany Loving, confirmed the news to New York Times, saying she had been informed by the FBI of her death.
“She was loving, always trying to help the next person out instead of thinking of herself. She just was a caring person,” she told the outlet.
One of the victims of the anti LGBT mass shooting on the weekend was a trans woman called Kelly Loving 💔 she sounded like a brilliant person pic.twitter.com/mMWoi7fABV
— Katy Montgomerie – @katymontgomerie@katy.media (@KatyMontgomerie) November 21, 2022
“I’m so devastated because she was such a good person,” Natalee Skye Bingham, a friend of Kelly, 40, told NYT.
Loving had been at the club during a weekend visit from her home in Denver, where she had recently moved. Bingham said she had been on a FaceTime call with Kelly shortly before the attack began, and said to her: “Be safe. I love you.”
“She was like a trans mother to me,” Bingham added. “In the gay community you create your families, so it’s like I lost my real mother almost.”
Yesterday (November 20), two of the five people killed during the attack were identified as Daniel Davis Aston and Derrick Rump, who both worked behind the bar at the venue.
The tragedy of it is mind numbing. Two bartenders…two co-workers…two friends, Derrick Rump and Daniel Aston, were among the five killed at Club Q in Colorado Springs. pic.twitter.com/Pq9gSriY8J
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) November 20, 2022
Daniel Davis Aston (right) was 4 when he first told his mother that he was a boy, Denver Post reported yesterday, having spoken with Daniel’s parents.
But it took more than a decade for Aston, 28, to come out as transgender and fully embrace his identity, his mother, Sabrina Aston, said Sunday.
Aston Family via NBC
He transitioned and found peace, she said. He was as happy now as he’d ever been.
She said he moved to Colorado from Oklahoma, where he was able to make friends quickly, largely because of his personality.
“It’s just unbelievable,” she said. “He had so much more life to give to us, and to all his friends and to himself.”
“We are in shock, we cried for a little bit, but then you go through this phase where you are just kind of numb, and I’m sure it will hit us again,” she told the AP. “I keep thinking it’s a mistake, they made a mistake, and that he is really alive.”
The Gazette identified bartender Derrick Rump as one of the victims. Rump, also a co-owner of Club Q, “was all about keeping people happy,” Tiara Latrice Kelley, a Club Q performer, told the outlet.
His name was Derrick Rump
He was a bartender server at Club Q
He was a cook at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
He went to work Club Q.
His life was taken from him.
Colorado Springs and #LGBTQ will miss you. pic.twitter.com/HeiHx0wfy4— 🏳️⚧️Girl named Jeremy🏳️⚧️U.S. Navy (Ret.) (@NikolaiLantsov3) November 21, 2022
Tragically, the nightclub attack took place on the eve of Trans Day of Remembrance – a day to remember trans people around the world who have died or been killed as a result of transphobic violence – and the venue targeted had been marking the occasion that weekend.
A suspect was later identified as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, who was being treated for wounds following the attack.
The shooter entered the establishment, Club Q, wearing body armor, and began firing with an AR-15 style rifle, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the shooting.
One of the club’s owners, who reviewed surveillance video of the scene, said the gunman entered the nightclub with “tremendous firepower”, per NY Times.
When police burst in, the man was still on top of the gunman, pinning him down, Mr. Suthers told The New York Times.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said that someone had acted quickly to grab a handgun from the gunman, managed to hit him with it, which subdued him.
At least two victims were still being treated for critical, life-threatening injuries on Sunday, Penrose Hospital Chief Medical Officer Bill Plauth told The Washington Post.
One of the wounded, Jerecho Loveall, 30, was released from medical care around 6am, according to the outlet.
Story will be updated.
Heartbreaking 💔
(🎥 @KRDONC13) pic.twitter.com/w4GYHHoIQo— Queer Insider 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ (@qitweets) November 21, 2022
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