President Biden known as Richard Fierro Tuesday to thank him for incapacitating the gunman who killed 5 folks late Saturday at an LGBT membership in Colorado Springs — with White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying Fierro could have saved “dozens” of lives.
Fierro, an Military veteran who served within the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, tackled 22-year-old suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich after he entered the bar and fired an AR-15-style rifle.
“The brave actions of Richard Fierro and Thomas James and others we're nonetheless studying about stopped the gunman earlier than he might kill others,” Jean-Pierre mentioned on the day by day White Home press briefing.
“Richard and Thomas are heroes and we're so grateful for his or her fast motion and there are not any phrases that may carry consolation to those that are grieving, however we stand with the group of Colorado Springs and the LGBTQI+ group.”
“The president simply moments in the past spoke to Richard and his spouse Jess,” mentioned Jean-Pierre, the primary brazenly homosexual particular person to carry the function of press secretary.
“He supplied his condolences to them and in addition his assist and talked by what it’s wish to grieve — as you realize, the president, that's one thing he’s capable of do very personally — and thanked him for his bravery and once more for his simply intuition to behave and the power — by him doing that saving perhaps dozens of lives,” she mentioned.
Fierro informed the New York Occasions that he grabbed the shooter from behind and took him to the bottom after he started capturing at attendees of a drag present.
When Aldrich reached for a pistol, “I grabbed the gun out of his hand and simply began hitting him within the head, again and again,” Fierro informed the Occasions.
Fierro, 45, was attending his first-ever drag present along with his spouse, his daughter and his daughter’s longtime boyfriend Raymond Vance, 22. Vance was one of many 5 folks killed within the capturing.
“Whereas we don’t know but for sure the motive of this assault, hate has no place on this nation and neither do military-style assault rifles, which is why we'll proceed to push for an assault weapons ban,” Jean-Pierre additionally mentioned on the briefing.
Thomas James’s function in confronting the shooter is much less well-known. He was recognized by Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez as additionally tackling Aldrich to the bottom. Along with the 2 males, Fierro mentioned a performer in heels kicked the suspect after he was on the bottom.
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