Officer: Accused club shooter in Colo. ran neo-nazi website
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The 22-year-old accused of carrying out the deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs in November ran a neo-nazi website and used gay and racial slurs while gaming online, a police detective testified Wednesday.
Anderson Lee Aldrich used racial slurs while gaming, posted an image of a rifle scope trained on a gay pride parade and used a homophobic slur when referring to someone who was gay, Detective Rebecca Joines testified on the first day of a three-day trial to determine if there’s enough evidence to warrant hate crime charges against Aldrich.
Aldrich, who wore a jail jumpsuit at the hearing and cried at times, identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they and them. Joines said another witness told investigators that Aldrich said their mother, Laura Voepel, is nonbinary and forced them to go to LGBTQ clubs.
Joines said evidence also indicates that Aldrich was considering livestreaming the Nov. 19 attack at Club Q in which five people were killed and dozens of others were injured.
Earlier Wednesday, another detective testified about the two men credited with stopping the attack.
Detective Ashton Gardner told the courtroom that surveillance video showed that a Navy sailor, Petty Officer Second Class Thomas James, grabbed the red-hot barrel of Aldrich’s Ar-style rifle in an effort to wrench it away and burned his hand. He said James and Aldrich then tumbled off a landing and began struggling over the gun, which Aldrich fired at least once, shooting James in the ribs.
After being shot, it is clear from the video that James was tiring, “but he continues to do what he can to subdue the suspect until police arrive,” Gardner testified.
As James was grappling with Aldrich, Army veteran Richard Fierro rushed over to help, grabbing the rifle and throwing it, Gardner said. Fierro then used the handgun to beat Aldrich.
James didn’t appear to be at the hearing. Fierro, whose daughter’s boyfriend was killed in the attack, sat in the back row.
After the gunfire ended and police arrived, Aldrich tried to pin the shooting on a patron who subdued them while also claiming that the shooter was hiding, Officer Connor Wallick testified. Officers didn’t believe it and shortly afterward confirmed that Aldrich was the shooter, he said.
Police found several high-capacity magazines at the scene, including a drum-style one that carries 60 rounds and was empty and others that carry 40 rounds, Gasper said. A state law passed after the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting bans magazines that carry more than 15 rounds.
Unlike the other charges Aldrich faces, hate crime charges require prosecutors to present evidence of a motive — that Aldrich was driven by bias, either wholly or in part. That could include statements on social media or to other people, said Karen Steinhauser, a University of Denver law professor who is unaffiliated with the case.