(soft somber music) (soft somber music continues) (wind rustling) (people chattering) (gun banging) (people screaming) - The courageous actions of Richard Fierro and Thomas James stopped the gunman before he could kill others.

Richard and Thomas are heroes, and we are so grateful for their quick action.

And there are no words, no words at all, that can bring comfort to those who are grieving.

But we stand with the community of Colorado Springs and the LGBTQI+ community.

I will add, the president just moments ago spoke to Richard and his wife, Jess.

He offered his condolences to them and also his support, and talked through what it's like to grieve.

As you know, the president.

(soft somber music) (wind rustling) (soft somber music continues) (engine revving) (car sputtering) - I'm from San Diego.

I met my wife as a ninth grader.

She got pregnant at 16.

So we were high school sweethearts, but we had a kid.

(soft music) My mother-in-law lived in North Park in San Diego.

It's the gay community in San Diego, and all her neighbors were gay.

You know, I'm trying to be all hard, but these guys are like, "Come on, Rich, get your (censored) together.

You're not hard."

And I go, "Okay, fine."

They were the ones that were like, "Hey, don't worry about it.

You're gonna have the kid and you're gonna make it."

And they inspired me.

Like just trying to deal with being gay in the '80s and the '90s and coming out, and everybody's trying to marginalize you, put you in corners, that's how North Park kind of becomes a community, 'cause nobody wants to see it.

And I don't think through those things as a kid.

And when you look back, you're like, "Man, those guys had it rough."

And I was over there crying about having a kid.

Like, you can work and feed the kid, that's not hard.

Being marginalized for who you are, that's crazy.

A recruiter was standing there, and I was walking by, and he's like, "Hey, you wanna join the Army?"

And I'm like, "Nah, dude, I don't wanna be in the Army."

And he's like, "What do you think about being an officer?"

I go, "I don't know what that is."

You know, I had no idea, no clue.

So he was like, "Listen, we got an ROTC program here at San Diego State.

You can stay with your kid, I'll get you a scholarship.

We'll put in your application, see if we're good."

The first day was great.

I showed up with my BDU's open.

My boots were kind of like a gangster.

So they were all undone and I'm all camoed up.

I got a full beard, long hair.

Officer Maleski looked at me, and he's like, "Who the hell are you?"

And I go, "I'm your scholarship kid, man, I'm here.

I'm ready to go, let's do this," and it was hilarious.

He's like, "First of all, man, let me tell you something."

So he squared me away, right?

He's like, "This has gotta go and this has gotta go."

And, you know, all this stuff.

Maleski took care of me.

He was like, "Listen, we're gonna get you through this."

Officer Maleski just like molded me and turned me into a soldier.

(soft somber music) - [Speaker] Where's this other jet going?

- [Speaker 2] What the hell is that?

- Oh!

- Oh my God!

Oh my God!

What?

What's happening?

- Don't touch it.

- Oh, oh my God!

Oh my God!

- 9/11 happened while I was a lieutenant and it was a weird day.

But that day led to a change in my entire career.

I went in thinking, "I'm gonna do this for four years, get out."

9/11 happens.

We're all like, "We're going to war tomorrow.

Let's do this."

(indistinct shouting) (cannon booming) In Iraq and Afghanistan, you've got patrol bases of platoons or companies.

And this is, like I said, this is a battalion.

In this whole space is a city of people or a town or a village.

So everything becomes interconnected.

Everywhere you go, there's a threat.

You have to go through a million different scenarios so that you're ready for all of it.

How do we clear a house?

How do we set up a checkpoint?

How do I move on a road without blowing it up?

And that's the thing, is what I'm saying is, in a 360 world, as soon as you get into one contact, it ain't over, 'cause you still gotta go from there to get to wherever you think is safe.

It can be the worst day of your life.

(explosion booms) (gun blasting) - Do it, do it, do it.

(helicopter whirring) (soldiers cheering) - Go, cadet!

Get up, cadet!

(gun blasting) - Chaos is, every time that round goes off, everybody has a different reaction.

And that chaos is what they pay you as an officer to manage.

When I first heard the rounds, I realized I didn't care.

Didn't bother me.

It didn't scare me.

I've seen guys that were studs, all the PT in the world, the greatest guy, this kid's gonna be a general one day, and then when they first hear that round crack over their head, can't do it.

Cower or freeze or don't do anything or lock themselves in their truck.

It's a test, it's not about manhood.

It's a test as a human.

Are you ready to sacrifice your own physical life for the greater good?

(explosion booms) (soldier groaning) - [Soldier] Get me outta here!

Get me outta here!

Get me outta here!

Get me outta here!

Get me outta here!

Get me out of the tank!

Get me out of the tank right now!

(traffic whooshing) (horn beeps) - When I got out, I had a hard time going from leading staffs, leading teams, managing the fight.

I had a hard time going from that to just a random dude on the street.

I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do and this job popped up as an instructor at Fort Carson.

I'm like, "Perfect."

And it was so fulfilling for me to not just be at home servicing whatever, you know, supply chain or whatever, you know, thing.

I was still helping soldiers.

We helped provide them the data that they can run through their drills, run through their scenarios, their orders, so that they don't have to go out and take the entire unit out and spend all that money on gas and food and fuel and all that stuff that comes with it.

And we plug in and help 'em, provide the environment on a simulated platform.

So on that computer, it looks like they're in whatever fight it is they want to fight.

All the simulation stuff, all that crap.

That's cool, but again, you ask any officer in the Army, it's about soldiers, it's about people.

That's what separates us from everyone else in the world.

Our soldiers care.

They care about the mission, they care about their family.

They have values that are given to them by the Army.

So we have one common set of values, regardless of where you come from, regardless of who you look like, who you love, does not matter.

Your leadership values are all the same.

(indistinct radio chatter) - [Soldier] Hey guys, be advised, we got advantage pulled up on the left side of the building.

- [Soldier] This is 485, roger.

We ID with the individuals coming out of the building with weapons.

- [Soldier] 485, you're clear to engage, initials, Mike, you'll get alpha.

You are clear to engage.

(indistinct radio chatter) (gun blasting) (radio chatter continues) (gun continues blasting) (soft somber music) (soft somber music continues) - We get to Fort Carson, and Napa Valley of beer, we're in Colorado.

And my wife's like, "We gotta do some breweries out here.

Let's see what this is about."

So we started going to breweries all over the place.

Our experience in the breweries, when we just got into 'em, we were the only brown kids in there.

It still wasn't a big deal.

The craft brewery industry, like, it was still, it was like an underground thing.

It was like a white guy thing.

You know, they're making beer and that's what they do at home and then they go to a craft brewery.

So when we'd walk into places, everybody was like, "Oh."

And we would get more special attention 'cause they were like excited that we were there, but they were also like, you know, we felt like, "Well why are we any different?"

But we were, 'cause we weren't the regular customer.

And then we were sitting in a brewery that's no bigger than somebody's bedroom.

So Biff the owner is literally standing, you know, as you're sitting there while we're having a beer.

We were all chatting it up and then Jess finally goes, "Hey, I wanna try and brew beer.

Can I come in and help you guys out or whatever?"

So she brewed for free, like interning, if you will, for about a year.

And she fell in love with it.

And so, I looked at her and she goes, "Hey, a friend of mine says that this brewery is up for sale."

And I go, "Babe, I don't know about that.

Are we gonna invest in a brewery?"

And she's like, "I think I wanna do this."

(soft bright music) When she opened that door, we were both in total shock, and she was giddy.

Like, "I am ready."

Like, she went into mode.

And she's like, "I'm setting Cinco de Mayo 2018.

We're opening Atrevida."

She was always doing taglines.

She was always writing out different taglines, trying to figure out what she wanted to do.

And she finally came up on, "Diversity, it's on tap."

And she looked at me and goes, "What do you think?"

And I go, "Dude, that's us."

I was trying to figure out, how do we make the diversity thing a pillar?

So beer, diversity, community, and then people are like, "You're gonna play that card?"

She's like, "I'm not playing a card.

It's me.

There's no playing it.

I'm not throwing a female card down.

I'm a female and I'm a Latina and there's none of me doing this," 'cause she's still in fact integrity in a glass.

She is all about beer.

I'm like, "You're doing something beyond beer, but you don't know it."

(soft bright music) (soft bright music continues) (gun blasting) (unsettling music) - We've learned a man credited with stopping the Club Q gunman is a military veteran.

Richard Fierro was at the club with his wife and daughter.

They were there with one of the shooting victims, Raymond Green Vance, who passed away.

- Steve joins us now from Colorado Springs.

Heartbreaking recollections of that day, Steve.

- One of the heroes who emerged on the night of the Club Q shooting will be at the State of the Union tonight in Washington, DC.

- [Reporter] White House press secretary, Olivia Alair Dalton says, gun control, including an assault weapon ban, will be part of the president's address.

- Now, Richard and I spoke just before airtime, and I do wanna warn you, it is a raw, emotional discussion.

And what he describes is as graphic as you might imagine.

- There's five people that didn't go home.

And this (beep), this guy, I told him while I was hitting him, I said, "I'm gonna kill you, man, because you tried to kill my friends."

My family was in there, my little girl was in there with her- - We are so sorry for the loss that you and your family have gone through, of the loss of your daughter's boyfriend, and we are so sorry for your two friends that are still recovering in there.

And I can't imagine going through what you and your family did, even with your training.

Your training was for war zones.

You trained to do that in combat, you know, not out for a night on the town.

(soft somber music) (soft somber music continues) (soft somber music continues) - My wife goes, "Hey look, it's Wyatt's birthday.

Kassy wants everybody to go see him perform.

He's a drag performer," and he was performing at Club Q. Wyatt is an amazing kid.

So he met my daughter in second grade when we first got to Fort Carson, her first friend, and they grew up together.

I watched this kid that I watched as a second grader, you know, come to my house, play with my kid, and he's out there performing like a movie star, right?

And I'm like, "Dude, that takes some serious guts, you know, this kid's doing it," and he's doing it like he's performing for, you know, in front of Rockefeller Center.

(soft somber music) (soft somber music continues) (gun blasting) When I heard the first rounds, I knew what it was.

I was facing the dance floor, he's behind me.

As soon as the rounds went off, I could tell everybody was like, "Is this the music?"

Like everybody around me was kind of confused.

I turned over and I looked over and I saw the muzzle flashing towards the bar and a shadow.

I just got up and went over there.

So Thomas had jumped at him or whatever he did with him, they were already fighting.

So I get over there and we were all fighting now, all three of us.

The whole time it's dark, the club music's still going (Richard imitates music thudding) and there's light's going.

One way or the other, I get the pistol from him, and I start hitting this kid with it, and we end up on the floor.

And then I saw meat, it was the back of his head, and I just kept hitting him in the back of his head.

I'm yelling out, "Call 911!

Get this guy, this guy tried to (censored) kill us!

I'm gonna (censored) kill you, guy!"

And I'm not saying it because I want to, I'm saying it because I needed to hear it to continue to fight.

"Keep kicking him in the head!"

I had help.

We're now a team.

Me and Thomas were a team.

It wasn't just me in there, it was me, Thomas, everybody in that room.

He had stopped moving at that point.

So I thought maybe I had killed him.

That was in my head, the "Hannibal" scene where he's just hacking away and blood's flying everywhere.

That's what it felt like to me.

And then that's when the cops came in.

(soft somber music) They take the guy, I'm like, "They got him.

They're good.

I'm going back to where I was with my family.

They're all still there."

The only ones there was Chip and Joanne.

I get to Joanne, she's laid out, Chip's laid out next to her where the table was.

So they're in the middle of the dance floor.

So I'm over there, "Joanne, stay with me."

And then I'm telling the cops, "Come on in!

You got casualties, tourniquets, tourniquets, tourniquets!

Let's go, let's go!"

The first cop that came to me, I'm like, "Put a tourniquet on her arm right now."

So he throws the tourniquet on her.

Then I go, "She's got two in her legs, she's got two in her legs.

He's shot too, he's shot too."

And then Chip was reaching for his wife.

I just remember telling her, "Look at my eyes, Joanne, stay with me, stay with me, stay with me."

And she's trying to see Chip.

So when Chip reached out for her, she couldn't move her arm.

And I said, "Joanne, I'm putting your hand in Chip's hand, your hand's in his hand.

Chip's got you right now.

He's got you."

I needed to make sure that if this is the last time they saw each other, they held hands.

I at that point realized this is forever.

My wife and daughter are gonna be going through this forever.

My best friends will be going through this forever.

They have little kids and they're gonna have to explain why they have wounds like they have now.

Like they were in combat and they were at a nightclub watching a show.

(soft somber music) (soldiers stomping) (drum rolling) (soldiers continue stomping) (drum continues rolling) - Mark time!

- Mark time!

- March!

Color guard!

- Color guard!

- Halt!

Present arms!

(somber patriotic music) (somber patriotic music continues) - [Richard] There's a lot of anger that comes from when you get hurt in this kind of way.

Somebody shoots at you, there's anger for the rest of your life because somebody tried to take your life, regardless if that's at war or whether that's here.

People don't understand that that changes you forever.

(somber patriotic music) (explosion booms) 9/11, everybody told it, "Don't let it change you.

Get back in the airplane.

Get back out in the world.

Don't let, don't be scared."

And we did, and Americans do that, because when they realize somebody's trying to change their lifestyle, they come back at you.

(soft somber music) Why isn't it that way with the shootings?

Why aren't people just saying, "Hey, no, no, no, no, no, that's not gonna happen.

Not in here, guy.

Not while I'm here.

I'm part of this big team that right now is this club, which is also part of this big team we call America.

And you're not gonna ruin how we go about our daily lives."

(soft somber music) We're all Americans, right?

"Well, I'm not on that American's team."

No, you are.

Because we're gonna drive the same streets.

We're gonna go to the same places.

You're all a part of the same team.

(indistinct chatter) - [Interviewer] Well, Sal, we'll start with you.

You're wearing a ribbon with a little medal around it here.

Tell us a little bit about that, please.

- Yeah, it's the Medal of Honor for actions of valor, right?

I think it's interesting because a day like today that we say Medal of Honor Day and it's always about, it's never the I and the me, it's us.

I don't, I almost never wear this.

I hadn't put this on in years until yesterday and it's because of what it represents and the weight of it.

And as light as it is, it's heavy in responsibility and it's an interesting medal.

- [Interviewer] So Richard, or Rich as you like to go by, Colorado Springs is home.

- Yes, sir.

- [Interviewer] What brings you here tonight?

- Well, there was a mass shooting in Colorado Springs and a shooter came in and 60 round drum, he put through everybody there in two minutes.

And as I took cover, my two friends were shot.

I jumped up and ran across the room and started fighting with this guy.

- When I heard this story, these are the things that we need to talk about, right?

Selfless service, and it's not camouflage and guns to be of service to your fellow person.

It's care and compassion, looking out for the people on either side of you, trying to make tomorrow better than today.

Not just for yourself, but everyone.

And I mean, this is what it's about.

An American hero.

Legit.

I hear this, it's like, "I need to be a better person."

- [Announcer] Now, please welcome our Master of Ceremonies, the National Security Correspondent, Jennifer Griffin.

(audience applauds) - On November 19th, 2022, Richard Fierro recognized the sound and smell of gunfire while celebrating a friend's birthday at Club Q in Colorado Springs.

His quick actions that night saved countless lives.

(audience applauds) Medal of Honor recipient Sal Giunta will present the award.

(soft somber music) Ladies and gentlemen, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society is pleased to present Richard Fierro with the 2023 Citizen Honors Award for Valor.

(audience applauds) (audience continues applauding) - [Richard] For everybody that was involved in this incident, the hard part is, it's forever.

And everybody who watched on the news, it was for 10 minutes.

My daughter will live without her boyfriend and she's going to think of all the possibilities that could have happened between their 22nd birthday and their 80th birthday.

I'm nobody special.

We were all one family at that time.

I was trying to protect my family.

Everybody in that room did something.

Whether it was fighting, helping others, putting pressure on a wound, the ones that grabbed my wife and pulled her down into a pile of people.

Those are my heroes.

Chip, keeping his wife alive.

My hero.

The person that took my daughter off the dance floor into the back room and kept her alive, he's my hero.

I hope that at least this comes across for folks to know, it's not about the guy with the gun, it's about the folks that are on the other side of the gun.

(soft somber music) (soft somber music continues) (no audio) (no audio)