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Colorado Club Q Shooting Suspect Formally Charged With Murder, Hate Crimes And Assault

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Topline

The gunman accused of killing five people and injuring 17 at a Colorado Springs nightclub last month was formally charged in Colorado District Court on Tuesday with criminal counts of murder, assault and hate crimes.

Key Facts

Prosecutors said on Tuesday they are pursuing charges of murder in the first degree, attempted murder in the first degree, assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree and bias-motivated crimes against Anderson Lee Aldrich, the 22-year-old suspected assailant.

Aldrich, who identifies by they-them pronouns, was arrested last month and held without bond on charges including five counts of murder and five counts of bias-motivated crime resulting in bodily injury—Colorado’s equivalent of a hate crime—according to court records.

District Attorney Michael Allen had not brought formal charges until Tuesday morning—he had indicated murder charges could result in life in prison (Colorado does not impose the death penalty).

Aldrich is also facing sentence enhancers, which under Colorado judicial law allow prosecutors to seek harsher penalties if Aldrich is convicted, the Denver Post reported.

Key Background

Aldrich, 22, carried a pistol and a long rifle, which police described as an AR-style firearm, into Club Q on the night of November 19, killing five people. He was injured in the attack and taken to a local hospital after patrons in the club confronted and subdued him—an act that’s been extolled by police as “heroic.” The attack is one of 620 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, making 2022 the second-worst year for gun violence since the GVA started tracking shootings in 2013. It was followed up three days later by another high-profile shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, where a gunman killed six people before fatally shooting himself in the store’s break room.

Tangent

In addition to murder and hate crime charges, police are also investigating Aldrich for their ties to a 2021 bomb threat, and whether they evaded the state’s red flag laws by owning firearms afterward. Under the state’s red-flag law—which has generated pushback from gun rights advocates and Colorado Springs officials—courts can seize firearms from people determined to be a danger to themselves or others if their family, housemate or law enforcement official files a petition for an “extreme risk protection order.” Aldrich is believed to be the same person arrested last June after his mother claimed he threatened her with a homemade bomb and ammunition. Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers (R), however, cautioned against assuming the case would “lead to application of the red-flag law” or that the law would have prevented Aldrich from carrying out the attack.

Further Reading

Colorado LGBTQ Nightclub Shooting: Police Say Suspect Used Long Rifle Before ‘Heroic’ Patrons Stopped Him (Forbes)

Colorado Club Q Shooting Suspect Reportedly Evaded Red-Flag Laws—Here’s How The Law Works (Forbes)

Alleged Colorado LGBTQ Nightclub Shooter Charged With Murder And Hate Crimes (Forbes)

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