“How? Why?” asked a devastated customer of Club Q on Sunday morning, after a man entered the business just before midnight on Saturday and began a killing spree.

As we begin Thanksgiving week, all of Colorado and the rest of the country should mourn another horrific crime that took at least five lives and left at least 18 others recovering or fighting for their lives. All victims have multiple friends, colleagues, loved ones and relatives whose lives will never be the same.

We should give thanks for brave patrons of the club who immediately intervened and contained the gunman until authorities arrived. Their courage and split-second action saved lives. We likewise should thank first responders for their quick and professional life-saving action.

The victims and their loved ones need an outpouring of support from individuals, religious institutions, businesses and all variety of organizations.

Everyone with the means can make large and small donations at ColoradoHealingFund.org. Every dollar will help. The healing fund is legitimate, as assured by Gov. Jared Polis, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and other reputable leaders. Avoid random GoFundMe sites and other unvetted fundraising operations that may be scams.

No matter what we do, these priceless lives can never be replaced. Nothing will fix this, but it is a crisis all should contend with.

We must answer the question posed by Club Q patron Joshua Thurman in the parking lot on Sunday:

“How? Why?”

The shooting was among at least six mass killings nationwide in the past month. Though most rational residents of our country feel shocked in the immediate aftermath of any mass shooting, we have become almost jaded to these tragedies. People talk, then quickly cope by moving on and doing nothing substantial. Then it happens again, and again and again. Shock, mourn, talk, recover and repeat. We, as a society, have done little to stop this beyond fomenting conflict over competing ideas.

It is time for this pattern to stop. We must resist wasting time on anything less than heartfelt, non-politicized efforts to stop the next tragedy. We must trust each other to work in earnest toward saving lives.

As of this writing, the public had few details about the suspect – 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich. We know he was arrested in June of 2021, after his mother reported Aldrich threatened to cause her harm with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons and ammunition.

A Sheriff’s Department news release dated June 18, 2021, says Aldrich was holed up in a home for nearly four hours and “refused to comply with orders to surrender.” Law enforcement forced the evacuation of at least 10 nearby homes. After the Crisis Negotiations Unit convinced Aldrich to surrender, authorities charged him with two counts of felony menacing and three counts of first-degree kidnapping. Authorities found no bombs or weapons and charges were dropped.

Though law enforcement may have lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute, one thing is clear: A man who refuses to comply with orders of law enforcement – for hours on end – needs public or private intervention and supervision. If that occurred in this case the efforts fell short.

While we work to stop this insanity, everyone bears responsibility to care for people they know who may be ready to snap. We must look for signs of depression, anger, anxiety, loneliness, despair, bigotry, prejudice and all forms of hatred and other conditions that drive individuals to hurt themselves and/or others.

We can choose to argue less and listen more.

We cannot look away and hope for the best, convincing ourselves it is not our problem. These are difficult times for all of humanity and we need to work with a selfless commitment to stop the violence.

Let’s keep asking “how?” and “why?” and find a way to stop the madness. We owe it to the deceased and others suffering directly from Saturday’s murders and too many like it.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Please donate generously at: ColoradoHealingFund.org

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board

EDITOR’S NOTE: Colorado Springs police initially reported early Sunday that five people had died and 18 were wounded, then changed it to five dead and another 25 wounded. On Monday, a joint operation between police and the city of Colorado Springs corrected the totals to five fatalities, and 17 people sustained gunshot wounds, another person injured in another manner and one victim with no visible injuries but considered a victim, according to city spokesman Max D’Onofrio. The situation was very chaotic on Sunday, D’Onofrio said, which led to the change in numbers. The suspect also was wounded and remains in police custody in a local hospital. He brings the total to 25 people impacted.