Victims and mothers of those killed in the 2022 mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs have filed lawsuits, claiming the killings could have been prevented if the sheriff’s office had used the state’s red flag law after clear warning signs that the gunman intended to commit violence.

Plaintiffs in the two lawsuits, filed Sunday, include survivor Barrett Hudson, who still has three bullets in his body from that night, and other victims and relatives. They spoke about the legal action at a news conference on Tuesday – which is the two-year anniversary of the shooting at the Club Q nightclub.

The families and victims also accuse the nightclub’s owners in the lawsuit of whittling Club Q’s security detail from five or more people to just one in the years leading up to the shooting, prioritizing profits over safety.

“The Q Club advertised itself as a ‘safe place’ for LGBTQIA+ people. But that was a facade,” both complaints state, alleging negligence among other allegations.

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A central focus of both lawsuits was the refusal of El Paso County commissioners and the then-sheriff to enforce Colorado’s 2019 red flag law, which allows law enforcement to temporarily take someone’s firearm if they are deemed a threat to themselves or for others.

Natalie Sosa, spokeswoman for El Paso County, said she does not comment on pending litigation.

County commissioners and the sheriff saw the red flag law as a violation of gun rights and passed a resolution to be a “Second Amendment conservation county” and, along with the then-sheriff, vowed to “resist asset” to the bill, according to court documents. .

The lawsuits allege that authorities should have used the red flag law after arresting the gunman, Anderson Aldrich, a year before he entered Club Q with indiscriminate fire.

Those killed in the shooting were Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump and Ashley Paugh.

In 2021, Aldrich was arrested for kidnapping and threatening to kill his grandparents, saying he would become “the next mass murderer” and collect ammunition, bomb-making materials, firearms and body armor, according to court documents.

“Clearly you planned for something else,” a judge told Aldrich in a 2021 hearing, according to documents previously obtained by The Associated Press. “It was saving all these firearms and trying to make this bomb and making statements about getting other people involved in some sort of shootout and a huge thing.”

The judge later dismissed all charges for “failure to prosecute” during a four-minute hearing, in part because the prosecution was unable to serve subpoenas on key victims, according to documents obtained by the AP.

Authorities made no attempt to remove Aldrich’s guns, the lawsuits allege, and “This deliberate inaction allowed the shooter to continue to have access to firearms, directly enabling the attack on Club Q.”

The lawsuits separately allege negligence and wrongful death against El Paso County commissioners and the former sheriff.

Aldrich, now 24, pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 in state court. A year later, Aldrich pleaded guilty in federal court to hate crimes and was sentenced to an additional 55 life terms in prison.