DENVER — The suspect accused of killing 5 folks inside a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub final month earlier than patrons stopped the assault was formally charged on Tuesday with homicide, hate crimes and assault.
The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, appeared for a listening to in El Paso District Court the place the costs in opposition to the 22-year-old had been learn. Aldrich has been held with out bond since the Nov. 19 rampage at Club Q in Colorado Springs. In addition to the 5 folks killed, 22 others suffered gunshot wounds or different accidents.
Aldrich, carrying yellow jail clothes and sitting at a desk along with his attorneys, didn’t communicate in the course of the listening to. Aldrich didn’t enter a plea to the 305 expenses that had been filed.
Aldrich, who was clad in physique armor, stormed the membership armed with a rifle and handgun and opened fireplace indiscriminately, police and witnesses stated.
Those killed had been recognized as Kelly Loving, 40; Daniel Aston, 28; Derrick Rump, 38; Ashley Paugh, 34; and Raymond Green Vance, 22.
Two males with navy backgrounds subdued Aldrich till police arrived. A former Army main and embellished Iraq and Afghanistan battle veteran, Richard Fierro, informed reporters that he disarmed Aldrich and pistol-whipped him into submission.
In his reserving picture and through an earlier court docket look, Aldrich appeared battered, apparently as a result of he had been overwhelmed by the bar’s patrons. On Tuesday, his face and neck didn’t seem like bruised.
The different man credited with subduing Aldrich, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Thomas James, stated in a written assertion that he simply needed “to save the family I found.”
Although authorities haven’t publicly recognized a motive, the Colorado taking pictures was paying homage to the 2016 Pulse nightclub bloodbath in Orlando, Florida, the place a gunman killed 49 folks earlier than police shot him lifeless.
If convicted of first-degree homicide, Aldrich faces a compulsory life sentence with out the potential for parole.
Colorado now not has a death-penalty statute. However, Aldrich might face a demise sentence in federal court docket if prosecutors determine to cost him with crimes beneath the US code, which nonetheless has capital punishment on its books for sure crimes.
Lawyers assigned to signify Aldrich from the Colorado public defender’s workplace have stated in court docket filings that their shopper identifies his gender as nonbinary and prefers “they” and “them” pronouns.
District Attorney Michael Allen stated after Aldrich’s preliminary court docket look on Nov. 23 that the suspect’s gender id would haven’t any bearing on how the case could be prosecuted.
Aldrich was beforehand arrested in June 2021 in Colorado Springs after the suspect had threatened to detonate a bomb and hurt their mom with a number of weapons, in line with a news launch from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. — Reuters
