A gunman has opened fire at an LGBTQ nightclub in the western US state of Colorado, leaving at least five people dead and 18 others wounded.

Police say a 22-year-old man started to fire randomly as soon as he entered the club in Colorado Springs late Saturday night. They add people in the club stopped the attacker.

Police are investigating whether the shooting was motivated by hate.

The club wrote in a social media post that it "is devastated by the senseless attack on our community." It added, "We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack."

The White House released a statement by President Joe Biden on Sunday.

Biden said "yet another community in America has been torn apart by gun violence." He said he and his wife "are praying for the families of the five people killed... and for those injured in this senseless attack."

The president said, "While no motive in this attack is yet clear, we know that the LGBTQI+ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years." He said, "We cannot and must not tolerate hate."

Biden said the US "must do more" to "address the public health epidemic of gun violence in all of its forms." He added, "We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America's streets."

The US has witnessed a series of deadly random shooting attacks. A gunman opened fire indiscriminately at an elementary school in Uvalde in the southern state of Texas in May, killing 19 children and two teachers.