Club Q survivors reflect on how their lives have forever changed

Waves of grief wash over Deanna Van Scyoc, changing her mood day to day, minute to minute. 

A sudden “bang,” the sound of gunfire on the TV or a social media post reminding her of her friends, Daniel Aston and Derrick Rump, bring Van Scyoc back to the night a year ago when she hid for her life, crouched under a pool table in Club Q and watched a shooter spray bullets across the dance floor where she once felt safe and free to be herself. 

For 12 minutes and 21 seconds, she relayed the horror to a 911 dispatcher as she put pressure on a friend’s chest where a bullet had struck him.

Almost a year has passed since Nov. 19, 2022, when a normal Saturday night turned deadly at a beloved LGBTQ Colorado Springs club filled with regulars there to catch up and strangers…