By Dennis Romero —
NBC News
One of the men who helped end the shooting at a Colorado Springs, Colorado, LGBTQ club on November 19 broke his silence Sunday with a note from the hospital: "I just wanted to save the family I found," he said. Thomas James, Navy Petty Officer, "If it were up to me, I would protect everyone in the world from hateful acts, but I'm just one person."
James is recovering from gunshot wounds he sustained when a person opened fire, killing five people and wounding 16 others with a weapon resembling an AR-15 assault rifle.
The person arrested in the shooting, 22, survived and is being held for murder and hate crimes pending charges.
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James, who is stable in the hospital, subdued the suspect, helped disarm him and held him pending police arrival along with 45-year-old Colorado Springs veteran Richard Fierro.
Fierro explained that the other man who helped stop the shooting was initially knocked down or fell to the ground in the middle of the high-powered gunfire, but got up, helped take the gunman's rifle and another pistol and kicked him to subdue him.
Photos of the detained person later showed her with blows and bruises.
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Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrián Vásquez described Fierro and James at a press conference as "the two heroes who intervened within Club Q" to stop the massacre.
Fierro has been able to speak to the media and describe his actions and those of James, who until now has not been able to tell his story as he is recovering from his injuries at the hospital.
Penrose Hospital said in a statement that James will not be giving interviews due to his failing health.
James, at the hospital Saturday in Colorado Springs.
US Navy
Fierro, a two-time Bronze Star winner in the Armed Forces, who after his retirement helps his wife run the Atrevida Beer brewery, was at Club Q that night celebrating a birthday with his wife, daughter and friends. this.
He explained that he acted to protect his family.
Her daughter's boyfriend was killed in the shooting.
James also referred to his family as the reason for his heroic intervention, although in this case he seemed to be referring to a larger group that would include his community.
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"Luckily, we are a family and in the family we take care of each other," he said, "we come a long way from Stonewall."
Stonewall is the name of a gay bar in New York City that concentrated the protests of the LGBTQ community in 1969 against the routine violent operations of the police.
"Abusers are not invincible," James added of the Colorado Springs shooting.
"I tell young people to be brave. Your family is out there. You are loved and valued," he added, "when you come out, do it proudly."
