Meet the Hero Veteran That Saved Countless Lives at the Colorado Springs Club Shooting

The horrific events that unfolded inside a club in Colorado Springs on Saturday night could have been way worse if it weren’t for a couple of brave folks who risked it all to take down the gunman. One of the heroes was already a hero from his time in the Army, and used those skills and instincts to stop the attack.

Richard Fierro, who served for 15 years in the military as an Army officer and left as a major in 2013, was twice awarded the Bronze Star. However, on Saturday night he was just out with his family, watching a family friend perform in a show when shots rang out in the club.

Mr. Fierro raced across the room, grabbed the gunman by a handle on the back of his body armor, pulled him to the floor and jumped on top of him. He used one of the attackers weapons to hit in the head, while instructing others at the bar to take the guns and stomp on the attackers face.

Once police arrived after a few minutes, Mr. Fierro didn’t stop his heroics as he took tourniquets from a young police officer and put them on his bleeding friends.

He was eventually apprehended as officers rushing into the scene spotted a blood-spattered man with a handgun, not knowing if he was a threat. After he was let go he met up with his family and friends who had varying injuries. It was also later determined that his daughter’s longtime boyfriend, Raymond Green Vance, was one of the five victims that was killed in the shooting.

“He saved a lot of lives,” Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said of Mr. Fierro, who now owns a successful local brewery called Atrevida Beer Co.