COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo (KDVR) — Every Saturday night, there was Derrick Rump behind the bar at Club Q, serving up drinks.
Rump knew how to make a good drink, and a strong one at that. But friends say the 38-year-old was so much more than just a bartender.
Just ask Kayla Cortes about one night on her birthday, when some friends she was expecting to show up never did.
“He knew it was my birthday, and he came and sat with me and gave me a beer and talked to me,” Cortes said. “And that’s how I want to remember him.”
‘When I think of Club Q, it’s Derrick’
Rump was working Saturday night when a shooter walked into the bar and opened fire, killing five. Cortes knew Rump worked on Saturdays and had a bad gut feeling, long before finding out he was among the victims.
“It broke my heart,” she said. “I just let out the loudest wail and scream. I can’t believe this is how it went.”
“He was the glue,” she said. “When I think of Club Q, it’s Derrick.”
She said Rump would be the one at the front of the line to comfort everyone right now. Instead, his face hangs in a tribute in front of the shopping center where Club Q sits.
“It makes me angry because my friends lost their voice. They lost their voice. And my plan from here on out is to make my voice heard in their honor,” Cortes said.