U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday that "yet another community in America has been torn apart by gun violence" in the wake of the Colorado Springs attack.

At least five people were killed and 25 others injured in a mass shooting late Saturday at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub, in Colorado Springs, the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado, local police said.

"Gun violence continues to have a devastating and particular impact on LGBTQI+ communities across our nation and threats of violence are increasing," Biden said in a statement. "We cannot and must not tolerate hate."

Authorities said on Sunday they were investigating whether the attack was motivated by hate. Police identified the suspect as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, and said he used a "long rifle." He was taken into police custody shortly after the shooting began and was being treated for injuries, according to officials.

Multiple firearms were found at the venue, including the rifle, Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez told a news conference on Sunday.

Nearly 40,000 lives have been taken by gun violence across the United States so far this year, according to the latest data released by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group.

Biden urged efforts to "address the public health epidemic of gun violence in all of its forms" and "enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America's streets."

The attacked nightclub issued a statement early Sunday morning, saying that it "is devastated by the senseless attack on our community."

"Our prays and thoughts are with all the victims and their families and friends."

The shooting was reminiscent of the 2016 Pulse club massacre when a gunman killed 49 people at the gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, before he was fatally shot by police.

It unfolded as LGBTQ communities and allies around the world prepared to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Sunday, an annual observance to honor victims of transphobic violence.

Anxiety within many LGBTQ communities in the United States has risen amid a divisive political climate and after a string of threats and violent incidents targeting LGBTQ people and events in recent months.

Colorado has a grim history of mass violence, including the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, a 2012 rampage inside a movie theater in a Denver suburb and a supermarket attack that killed 10 people last year.

(With input from agencies)