‘Thought I Was Dead’: LGBTQ Club Survivor Recalls Incredible Escape After Getting Shot 7 Times
Speaking from his hospital bed, a survivor of the shooting at a Colorado Springs drag show early Sunday morning detailed how he escaped death despite being shot seven times in his back.
Barrett Hudson said in a since-deleted Facebook Live broadcast that he was attending the drag show at Club Q when gunfire rang out around midnight. The attack killed five and nearly took the life of Hudson, who was one of 18 injured.
“I made it,” Hudson said Sunday. “I don’t know how the fuck I made it, but I made it.”
Hudson said he’s doing “amazing” in recovery, but vividly remembers the terrifying ordeal.
He saw the shooter enter the club, which he claims had no security, and start firing into the crowd. Hudson tried to flee but was quickly gunned down, causing him to collapse to the floor where he was shot again.
Despite being riddled with bullet wounds, Hudson said he ran for the club’s back door. He then hopped on a table and climbed a 12-foot barbed wire fence to make his escape, he recalled.
Hudson said he took off sprinting away from the gunfire. At one point, he said he leaped down from a parking garage, eventually making it to a 7-11 convenience store that was approximately a quarter mile away.
Once outside the 7-11, Hudson said he collapsed again as people swarmed to help. He remembers the good Samaritans counting the bullet holes in his back—“one, two, three, five, seven”—as he started to think about death.
“I legit thought I was dead,” Hudson said. “I thought I was going to bleed out…They told me I had seven bullet holes in my back. I thought I was dead—I was like, ‘peace, motherfuckers.’”
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Next, Hudson said he called his dad to tell him he loved him.
Hudson didn’t say how he made it to the hospital or if he required surgery, but gleefully said he’d survived because all seven shots somehow missed his organs.
The video, which had garnered thousands of views since posting, was taken down by Hudson on Monday afternoon. He did not respond to an interview request sent through Facebook messenger.
In the shooting’s aftermath, archived dispatcher recordings confirm part of Hudson’s account. Authorities received a call around 12:15 a.m. that someone at 7-11 had been shot seven times, reported the Colorado Sun.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, has been arrested in connection to the shooting and now faces murder and hate-crime charges. He was armed with an AR-style rifle and a handgun, authorities said.
Despite being in good spirits for surviving the bloodbath, Hudson said he feels for the five victims who didn’t get a chance to call loved ones a final time.
“I really feel for the people who didn’t make it,” Hudson said. “They’re the families that are getting phone calls, and I was fortunate enough to call my dad myself, even if it was one last time, to call and tell him bye…I’m very glad to be alive, and I cannot believe I’m alive.”
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