The gunman who killed five people and injured 19 others at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub in 2022 is guilty of 74 federal charges, including 50 federal hate crimes, according to court documents released Tuesday. He says he plans to admit it.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 23, reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to 50 hate crime charges and 24 firearms violations. According to court documents The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
The firearms charge carries a maximum penalty of the death penalty, but federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty under the plea agreement, the filing said. Instead, prosecutors agreed to concurrent sentences of multiple life sentences and an additional 190 years in prison.
The deal was terminated after Aldrich pleaded not guilty in court Tuesday afternoon. The deal still needs a judge's approval.
Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, was charged with murder last June and one count for each person who was at Club Q during the Nov. 19, 2022, shooting. Both men pleaded guilty to a total of 46 counts of attempted murder. They pleaded no contest to two bias crimes, one felony and one misdemeanor count, and were ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
Aldrich appeared in court via video on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. The latest federal charges come in the wake of an FBI investigation into the shooting.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Aldrich, who previously lived in Colorado Springs, entered Club Q on November 19, 2022, as part of a “deliberate, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated attack.” He said he began firing with a loaded assault weapon.
The shooting was stopped by a Navy officer who grabbed the barrel of Aldrich's rifle and a military veteran who helped subdue and beat Aldrich before police arrived. According to the Ministry of Justice, five people were killed and 19 injured.
The Associated Press reported last year that Aldrich expressed remorse for their actions and said in a prison phone call that he was prepared to face the consequences.
Aldrich refused to speak Tuesday during a sentencing hearing in state court, explaining why he went outside after clubbing, returned wearing body armor and fired an AR-15-style rifle, according to the Associated Press. was not disclosed.
Prosecutors said Aldrich had visited the club at least six times before the night of the shooting, and that Aldrich's mother forced them to go there, the newswire added. They told The Associated Press that he had been taking “very large amounts of drugs” and was abusing steroids at the time of the attack.
Asked whether the attack was motivated by hatred, Aldrich told The Associated Press it was “completely off base.”
Colorado Springs District Attorney Michael Allen said Aldrich's claim to be non-binary was a tactic to avoid hate crime charges, saying there was no evidence Aldrich identified as non-binary before the shooting. he claimed.
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