Gay club massacre shooter stays silent
Man held in 2021 over bomb threat
THE gunman suspected of the Colorado Springs gay nightclub massacre has refused to say a word to investigators.
Anderson Lee Aldrich was held after Saturday night’s shooting at Club Q, in which five were killed and dozens more injured.
The authorities are trying to find out how 22-year-old Aldrich, who was dressed in body armour, was able to obtain weapons including an AR-15 assault rifle.
It is reported that a man with the same name and age as Aldrich was held in connection with a bomb threat last year.
The man was arrested on charges of felony menacing and firstdegree kidnapping in June 2021, according to the El Paso County Sheriff ’s office.
Sheriff ’s deputies responded to a report by the man’s mother that he was “threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition”. The mayor of Colorado Springs John Suthers said yesterday that the attack on the LGBTQ club has “the trappings of a hate crime”. Dozens of lives were saved in the nightclub shooting thanks to one of the club’s revellers.
The man ran towards the gunman wrestling a handgun away before using it to strike the attacker. Club Q co-owner Matthew Haynes said: “He saved dozens and dozens of lives. Stopped the man cold.
“Everyone else was running away and he ran toward him.”
Victims of the attack included Kelly Loving, 40, who was on a weekend trip from Denver.
Employees Derrick Rump and Daniel Aston were also shot dead in the assault, which took place as the club hosted a “Drag Divas” night on the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance.