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Beret Hudson31, was enjoying a night out with a friend when he suddenly became one of the victims of the Colorado Springs mass shooting that took place on November 19 at LGBT nightclub Club Q. The fatal shooting left five dead and dozens more injured. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY to Barrett, who “thought [he] was dead” after being shot seven times by an armed gunner with an AR-15.
HL: Can you please explain exactly what happened at the club that night?
Barrett: “I only moved to Colorado a month and a half ago. I went with another person and we had never been there so we just wanted to check it out. And we wanted to go there to watch a drag show. We were probably only there for 30, 45 minutes. And I mean, we were 30, 45 seconds from going. If we had left when we left we would have either been at the bar and closed our bill or we would have walked through the entrance so who knows what would have happened.
“I saw him murder someone in cold blood right before my eyes. I swear to god he paused a second or two before he shot this guy. So I’ll tell you when you hear gunshots and I’ve never heard gunshots that close but apart from that one time it sounds like balloons popping because the echo is loud and the music is still being played over . So it’s not that it’s loud, loud because it could be in the music. But when he opened fire, we heard about nine or ten bangs. I look to the right and see the door closed and I see him standing there with an AR-15. Because I have an AR-15, I know what they look like.
“When he opened the door, he was just right for this group of people. You couldn’t have been in a worse place. They were like sitting ducks. A guy put his hands up and took two steps back. And the guy just shot him in the head, or maybe it was the chest. Then everyone in the club started running. It was dark in the club but you could see and hear the shots.”
HL: How did you manage to escape?
Barrett: “I ran out the back door and got shot from left and right. Once in my left elbow and once in my right elbow, then five times in the back. Everything happened so fast. I was just fighting for my life. I had no choice but to keep going. I was getting shot the whole time I was running. I fell and would get up again. I made it outside and immediately looked right. I don’t even think I looked to the left because there were double doors and the left door was still open. So I just went to the right so he wouldn’t have as much shooting range.
“I saw about a 10 or 12 foot fence, so I ran and climbed over the fence. I pounced on it. I ran about another 30 yards and hopped onto the ledge, which was probably a 15 foot ledge. Then I ran to a CVS and yelled for help. That’s kind of when I had my moment to come to Jesus. I was lying on the sidewalk at 7-Eleven and people were helping me. They called 911, but the ambulances took forever.
“The people who helped me started counting all the bullet holes. They told me how many times I had been shot and was bleeding so much. As I lay there, I saw numerous police cars and ambulances drive by to help other victims. During that time, while waiting for an ambulance that was down, I called my father and told him how much I loved him, thinking I was dead since we couldn’t get an ambulance there.
“At one point we actually wanted to sit in someone’s car. But then the police came, then the fire, but we still couldn’t get an ambulance. They said, ‘Well, let’s just put him in the fire truck, but then they finally got an ambulance. I feel like I would have had an even better chance of life if I had just gotten into someone’s car just because the ambulance was taking so long.”
HL: Have you connected with any of the other survivors since the attack? If yes, how was that?
Barrett: No, unfortunately not yet. I was in the hospital until a few days ago and am now just concentrating on recovering. Also, don’t forget that I’ve only been in Colorado for a few weeks, right? I just moved there. I didn’t know anyone. Actually I’m back in North Carolina now we are all with my family so they can take care of me.
HL: How are you feeling today?
Barrett: “You gave me permission to leave this hospital after 72 hours. I flew back to North Carolina, where I’ve been from ever since, and fortunately I can walk and speak. Sitting still hurts, but I found that one of the bullets missed my spine by a hair and all the other bullets missed my major organs.”
HL: Did you ever imagine that something like this would happen to you?
Barrett: Absolutely not. But what I did when I went to the club, I actually checked my exits. I looked around and noticed. And in my head I said, ‘God forbid a shooter come in. And I saw the back doors. I actually do that in every gay bar I go to. I’m kind of looking around the exit just because of all the shooting.”
HL: How did that affect your life? Are you afraid to go out again? Could you ever go to a club again?
Barrett: Hell no, I could never do a club again. I’m generally the bearded type, but still… even if I had a gun things happen so fast I don’t know what good it would have done. When I saw him shooting at that guy, I ran before his body went down. As soon as I saw the gun fire, I ran, knowing I wasn’t joking. This is real life, but it still feels like waking up.”
HL: In your opinion, what needs to be done to prevent something like this from happening again? Are gay bars still safe places?
Barrett: “Not in 2022. Gay bars are the most dangerous places to go because we’re getting more targeted. If you want to blow something up and hate people, that’s usually where you go. Or like the cinemas or churches. I mean it was awful. And when I think about changing something, we need security and we like to spend some money. I understand it will cost more, but we need off-duty cops. We need people who can carry guns. Because if security had been there, it would have been a completely different story. You probably wouldn’t have gone to that bar.”
HL: What kind of justice do you hope to see for alleged gunman Anderson Lee Aldrich?
Barrett: I hope he gets life in prison without parole because death is too easy. If you do something like that, you’re totally ready to die. The guy who took him down, I believe the shooter’s thoughts, he’s like, ‘Oh shit, now I’ve got to hold on all the time.’ So life without parole would be a better sentence for him.”
HL: As a gun owner yourself, how do you view gun control following this attack? Do you think better gun control would have changed the outcome?
Barrett: It’s too easy to get a gun. It’s hard to get a gun. I have an AR-15 and several other guns. It’s easier to get because an AR-15 is considered like a shotgun, so you literally just go there and buy a shotgun. It’s a background check. You’re going out in 10, 15 minutes. It’s way too easy and I think we definitely need better gun control because we’re the only country that falls like flies on our own people.”
HL: What is your message to the LGBTQ+ community?
Barrett: That’s a good question. Just know your exits. And just be safe. My message would be that right now it’s just not safe enough to go out.”