COLORADO SPRINGS — Today marks two months since the shooting at Club Q, which took the lives of five victims.
Today, the founder and co-owner of Club Q told News5, that within weeks of the tragedy, they knew the club would re-open one day at the same location. The only surviving bartender from that night also said its community will be back stronger than before.
Michael Anderson, 25 years old, was at Club Q on the night of the shooting. Now he’s turning his experience into helping the club rebuild.
“I want to take this experience that wasn't positive in any way, and turn it into something that is positive and important,” said Anderson.
Anderson is now on the administrative team at Club Q, which formed last month to help the club rebuild. The team includes survivors, victims, employees and the co-owner and founder, Matthew Haynes.
“It became very apparent about two weeks after the incident that we were getting so much mail, so many calls, so many people personally coming up, saying, ‘please, please, please make sure that the Club Q comes back,’” said Haynes.
Haynes said it’ll be a new space, with new layouts and new designs. They'll also strengthen security measures.
“We do have security concerns, none of us can ever go through, or want to go through this again,” said Haynes. “So there are some certain design elements that that are being brought in for additional security for the club for years to come.”
There will also be a memorial to remember and honor the five victims who lost their lives. Anderson added he doesn’t want the victims’ names and legacies to be forgotten.
“I think what really has pushed me to this direction of action and advocacy and working on these big projects is the fact that I know it's in their honor, and it's in their legacy, that these these projects will be successful,” said Anderson.
The building remains quiet, with a memorial of messages, cards, flowers and photos of the victims still on display. It’s a reminder of what happened, but for Anderson, an opportunity to heal and reflect whenever he visits.
“It was really healing for me to go back into somewhere that the last time I went, I was running out for my the safety of my own life,” said Anderson.
Club Q is not letting five minutes of violence overshadow the 21 years of being a safe space for the community. But now, moving forward, the team is looking forward to rewriting the next chapter.
“We have been knocked down, but we are resilient and we are strong,” said Anderson. “What's really important is for the community to have our space back, and our our club, and our home back.”
“’It’s a very important place for the last 20 years, and more importantly than that, we feel so strongly that hate cannot win, it just cannot win,” said Haynes.
Haynes said he hopes Club Q will reopen by the end of the year.
For more information or updates about Club Q and its recovery, click here.
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