Club Q shooting hero Richard Fierro honored by the American Red Cross

DENVER — The American Red Cross of Colorado and Wyoming has honored Club Q shooting hero Richard Fierro with the Military Rescue Hero of the Year award.

The decorated Army veteran received the award at the 2023 Rocky Mountain Heroes party in Denver on Saturday night.

Fierro said being called a “hero” is always hard to hear.

“We are all the same. They’re all heroes in there. It was a nightmare,” Richard Fierro said of everyone who was there that night and sprang into action, whether to tackle the shooter or help others in need.

Fierro helped take out the shooter inside Club Q, saving many lives. He says it’s an honor to be recognized by the Red Cross.

“I was a military child. The Red Cross has always been involved in my life. That’s kind of where I’m coming from. It’s just to support the community, that’s all it’s about. acts,” he said. “It’s such a wonderful thing that we recognize something in a positive light in the worst offence, and the Red Cross does that.”

He explained that the last four months of healing have been a lot of work. Fierro sought therapy, saying going through the traumatic experience has reignited his PTSD since serving in the military.

“I think people need to start looking for sanity and stuff before it gets out of control. I am the one who has now accepted it. It was very difficult for me, as a young man, to say, “Oh, I’m going to get help. And now I’m able to do it,” Fierro said.

Club Q shooting hero Richard Fierro honored by the American Red Cross

Since filming, there has been an outpouring of support for Fierro’s family business, Atrevida Beer Co. But he says it’s been a challenge to keep up while processing what happened.

“It’s hard for us to catch up on merchandise orders and all that stuff. So we’re taking it easy. We’re really trying to make everyone happy because we’ve been so blessed with the support from the community,” Fierro explained. “But we’re going to get there and it just takes time, and we have to heal a bit to get there.”

As Colorado lawmakers debate gun control legislation in the coming weeks, Fierra said he would like to see Americans come together to find a way to end gun violence, but until then , he wants to remind everyone to be kind.

“I always went to, just be nice to people. Say “hello” at Walmart to a stranger, because he might be having the worst day of his life and he needed someone to say “hello”, and that “hello” keeps him from doing something heinous,” Fierro said.