Richard M. Fierro

Richard M. Fierro helped save an indeterminate number of people from assault, Colorado Springs, Colorado, November 19, 2022. Just before midnight, a 6’4”, 280-pound man wearing body armor stormed into a nightclub with an assault rifle equipped with a 60-round drum magazine and opened fire. The assailant immediately shot and killed an employee and three others in the bar area, then proceeded into the dance floor area while continuing to fire. Fierro, 45, defense contractor, was sitting at a table near the dance floor as his wife, daughter and a friend danced. Upon hearing the gunshots and seeing the muzzle flash in the dim lighting, he dived to the floor and against a wall. The assailant proceeded past him while firing and moved toward an indoor patio area. As the assailant began to enter the patio through a shattered glass door, a Navy sailor jumped from the other side and hit him with a bucket, grabbed the assailant’s rifle, and began punching the assailant. As the two fought on a stair landing, the assailant pulled a pistol and shot the sailor in the abdomen. From across the room, Fierro stood and ran toward the assailant, arriving just as the assailant and the wounded sailor fell off the landing to the floor. The assailant lost hold of the rifle and it fell nearby. As the assailant attempted to stand, he pointed a pistol at Fierro as he approached, but it did not fire. Fierro then grabbed the pistol from the assailant and, as the assailant fell facedown, tried to shoot the assailant in the back. When the gun did not fire, the magazine having at some point been ejected, Fierro wrapped his arm around the assailant’s head from behind and held the assailant face down on the floor as Fierro pistol-whipped the assailant in the back of the head while the sailor, prone and wounded, kicked the assailant in the face. As the struggle continued and the sailor lost strength, Fierro instructed others to call 911 and to help him as he subdued the assailant for four additional minutes. When a female patron walked by, he told her to kick the assailant’s face with her high heels. She stomped the assailant’s head repeatedly while Fierro continued to subdue and strike the assailant until police arrived. Five people, including the partner of Fierro’s daughter, were killed in the shooting and 19 were injured. Fierro was not injured. The assailant was prosecuted in state court and received life in state prison. In a parallel federal hate crimes case, the assailant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in federal prison.