Several victims of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs and some of their family members have notified El Paso County officials they intend to file lawsuits, claiming the Sheriff’s Office “played a role” in the violence after it failed to invoke Colorado’s red flag gun law against the alleged shooter during an earlier 2021 bomb threat.

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In nine notices of claim filed with the county in mid-May, attorneys claim the violence that erupted at the popular LGBTQIA+ club on North Academy Boulevard just before midnight on Nov. 19 “could have been entirely avoided had the El Paso County sheriff utilized the Colorado ‘red flag’ law.” 

A notice of claim is not a lawsuit, but it informs a party that it may be liable for a claim for damages.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, faces more than 300 charges after allegedly killing five people and wounding more than two dozen in the fall shooting at the club.

Aldrich’s trial has yet to be scheduled; the suspect is expected back in El Paso County district court on June 26 for arraignment. 

In eight separate notices of claim, attorneys Dan Lipman of Denver-based Parker Lipman LLP and David Neiman of Chicago-based Romanucci & Blandin LLC claim “members of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office negligently and unconscionably played a role in Anderson Aldrich possessing and using firearms inside Club Q …” on Nov. 19-20, and that the Sheriff’s Office was “negligent and/or liable and such conduct or omissions were a cause of claimants injuries, demands and losses.”

Another notice, filed by Bufkin & Schneider Law LLC of Colorado Springs, recalls how the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners in March 2019 declared the county a “Second Amendment preservation county,” opposing Colorado’s then-proposed red flag gun law that allows law enforcement officials and private residents to petition a court for permission to confiscate guns from people considered a danger to themselves or others.

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The Sheriff’s Office’s policy regarding the law also states, in part, “A member of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office will not petition for an (extreme risk protection order) or (temporary risk protection order) unless exigent circumstances exist, and probable cause can be established pursuant to (Colorado statute) that a crime is being or has been committed.”

Bufkin & Schneider Law, in its notice, allege the board’s and Sheriff’s Office’s actions “prevented reasonable actions that could have been taken under the law to prevent the murders, assaults and crimes that took place Nov. 19, 2022 by … Aldrich.”

The notices of claim stem from an incident in June 2021, during which Aldrich was arrested after claiming to have a bomb and threatening to use it.

In arrest records from the 2021 incident, Aldrich expressed a desire to become “the next mass shooter” and wanted to “go out in a blaze.”

In a video obtained by The Gazette, believed to be a livestream of the 2021 incident, a person believed to be Aldrich can be seen wearing body armor and a helmet, while carrying what appears to be a rifle as that person moves between rooms. What appears to be a handgun on the bed comes into view as the suspect directs profanities at deputies outside the home.

“If they breach, I’m-a (expletive) blow it to holy hell,” the suspect is heard saying about law enforcement. “Go ahead and come on in, boys. Let’s (expletive) see it.”

An El Paso County court later dismissed the bomb threat case against Aldrich because prosecutors were unable to serve subpoenas to family members who were the alleged victims in the matter.

Without testimony from Aldrich’s grandparents, who accused Aldrich of threatening them, the judge in the 2021 case dismissed the charges against Aldrich.

That case was sealed on Aug. 11, 2022, and later unsealed on Dec. 8, 2022.

The notices filed last month by Parker Lipman and Romanucci & Blandin name former El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder, but other governmental representatives, agents and/or employees could be named, the documents state.

The notice filed by Bufkin & Schneider Law names Elder, current El Paso County Sheriff Joe Roybal and the five current members of the Board of El Paso County Commissioners.

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Elder, who left office in January, had previously been vocal about his opposition to Colorado’s red flag gun law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2020.

At one point the former sheriff had threatened to sue if it did become law, but said in a January 2020 statement El Paso County deputies would enforce court orders to confiscate firearms from those found to be a danger to themselves or others.

Elder noted at the time deputies wouldn’t petition to seize weapons from a person unless there are urgent circumstances and that they can establish probable cause that a crime is being or has been committed.

In a lengthy statement issued Dec. 8 on its website, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said following the bomb threat a mandatory protection order was placed on Aldrich on June 22, 2021, while Aldrich was detained at the El Paso County jail.

It ordered Aldrich not to contact any victims or witnesses in that incident, to stay away from their homes or anywhere they were likely to be, and not to “possess or control firearms or other weapons,” among other limitations, the statement reads.

The Sheriff’s Office said “there was never a point in time” it needed to file a request for an extreme risk protection order because the mandatory protection order granted for Aldrich “was to remain in place until the case reached a final disposition, regardless of (whether) or not Aldrich was in our physical custody or out on bond.”

An extreme risk protection order would have been “redundant and unnecessary,” the Sheriff’s Office said, because the mandatory protection order in place prevented Aldrich from legally possessing firearms. Deputies had also seized “all firearms and weapons Aldrich was known to possess” following their June 2021 arrest.

Additionally, the Sheriff’s Office would have been unable to “present a factual basis for a potential (extreme risk protection order) … because the case in which those facts were detailed had been sealed,” according to the statement.

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Parker Lipman and Romanucci & Blandin filed notices on behalf of John Arcediano, JanCarlos Del Valle, Ashtin Gamblin, Anthony Malburg, Charlene Slaugh and James Slaugh, who were all injured in the Club Q shooting.

The firms also filed notices on behalf of Tiffany Loving and Adriana Vance, sister of Kelly Loving and mother of Raymond Green Vance, respectively, who were both killed in the shooting.

Jeremy Gold and Ryan Gamblin are named as co-claimants with their respective spouses, Malburg and Ashtin Gamblin. 

They seek monetary damages of approximately $20 million in each case, records show.

Bufkin & Schneider Law filed a notice seeking $424,000 on behalf of Barrett Hudson, who was also injured in the shooting.