"I am not OK": Man recalls friends being shot, killed in Club Q mass shooting
Joshua Thurman, like others, went to Club Q in Colorado Springs for a night of fun and excitement. Instead, he was inside fighting for safety before figuring out his friends were among those killed in the mass shooting there that took at least five lives.
"I lost friends, I am not OK," Thurman said.
He and many others, who were in the gay nightclub that night, are in disbelief.
"I'm sad because it should have been me. No one deserves this you know? It should have been me," Thurman told CBS News Colorado.
Thurman was on the dance floor when he heard the gunfire erupt. He thought the sounds ringing were a part of the music until he heard another round go off.
"I saw the flash of the muzzle when I looked to my left and I took off running into the dressing room," Thurman said.
He was joined by two others seeking safety as they shut off the lines, locked the doors and laid on the floor in silence until police arrived.
"It was a mix of scared, nervous, trying to be strong and trying not to be loud because even though the doors were locked, there was nothing stopping that man from coming in those doors if he wanted to," Thurman said.
Fortunately, the gunman didn't find Thurman or the other bystanders as they hid there for some time. Thurman crawled out from the private area and saw a police officer.
"I said, 'officer is it safe to come out now?'," said Thurman. While being escorted out of the crime scene, Thurman and others saw just how close they were to losing their lives. "Bodies on the ground, blood, shattered glass. It was just heartbreaking."
Thurman knows for Club Q and most importantly the LGBTQ+ community, it's a long road to recovery.
"We're shattered, we're broken. I don't know how we're going to get through this honestly, but we have no choice."
