When army veteran Rich Fierro realized a gunman was spraying bullets inside the club where he had gathered with friends and family, instincts from his military training immediately kicked in.
First he dove to duck any potential incoming fire, and then he moved to try to disarm the shooter.
“It’s the reflex. Go! Go to the fire. Stop the action. Stop the activity. Don't let no one get hurt. I tried to bring everybody back,” he said Monday outside his home.
Fierro is one of two men police are crediting with saving lives by subduing a 22-year-old gunman who went on a shooting rampage Saturday night at Club Q, a well-known gathering place for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs.
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He's also a graduate of Mira Mesa High School, San Diego State University and a 15-year army veteran who served four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fierro was there with his daughter Kassy, her boyfriend and several other friends to see a drag show and celebrate a birthday. He said it was one of the group's most enjoyable nights, until the shooting started.
His daughter's boyfriend, Raymond Green Vance, was among those killed.
"It felt like a year and a half. It was probably five minutes but the five minutes in the mad minutes of war is a lifetime," Fierro told NBC 7.
"Her whole world has changed and she's trying to be strong. She did that guttural scream when she found out about Raymond and it was the worst thing I ever heard. This is my kid," Fierro said.
"I just kept preparing myself to see my family dead, walking past other bodies," said Jessica Fierro, Rich's wife.
"Those are things you won't be able to unsee, smells you won't be able to unsmell. It's going to take a lot fo time to heal from this. My daughter has a long road ahead of her," Jessica Fierro said.
Fierro told reporters that once his instincts kicked in, he and another man approached the shooter. He grabbed the attacker's body armor and began punching him while the other man, Thomas James, began kicking him. The suspect reached for a handgun, but Fierro grabbed it from him. He also told James to kick away the shooter's AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
When a performer who was there for the drag show ran by, Fierro told them to kick the gunman. The performer stuffed a high-heeled shoe in the attacker's face and also tried to subdue him, Fierro said.
“I love them,” Fierro said of the city's LGBTQ community. “I have nothing but love.”
Fierro served in the military for 15 years, doing tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, before leaving as a major. He said saving lives is "what I was trained to do."
“I didn’t ask for this,” he said, adding he was there to watch his daughter’s junior prom date perform. “I’m not a hero, I’m just some dude,” he said.
The mass shooting left five dead and at least 17 wounded by gunfire. The suspect, who was said to be carrying multiple guns and additional ammunition magazines, faces murder and hate crime charges.
Colorado Shooting Coverage:
Jessica Fierro said via Facebook that her husband had bruised his right side and injured his hands, knees and ankle. “He was covered in blood,” she wrote on the page of their brewery, Atrevida Beer Co.
Though his actions saved lives, Fierro said the five deaths — including his daughter's boyfriend, were a tragedy both personal and for the broader community.
“There are five people that I could not help. And one of which was family to me,” he said, as his brother put a consoling hand on his shoulder.
Fierro said he doesn't remember if the gunman responded as he yelled and struggled to subdue him, but he has thought about their next interaction.
“I’m gonna see that guy in court,” Fierro said. “And that guy’s gonna see who did him.”
Source: The Gun Violence Archive
Amy O’Kruk/NBC
Metz reported from Salt Lake City. Associated Press reporter Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed.
