Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub shooter sentenced to life in prison
The person who killed five people at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub last year was sentenced to life in prison on Monday, after victims called the shooter a “monster” and “coward” who hunted down revelers in a calculated attack on a sanctuary for the LGBTQ+ community.
Anderson Lee Aldrich pleaded guilty on Monday to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder in an emotional courtroom hearing packed with victims and family members just seven months after the shooting.
Aldrich also pleaded no contest to two hate crimes, one a felony and the other a misdemeanor.
“I intentionally and after deliberation caused the death of each victim,” Aldrich told judge Michael McHenry.
People in the courtroom wiped away tears as the judge explained the charges and read out the names of the victims.
“This thing sitting in this court room is not a human, it is a monster,” said Jessica Fierro, whose daughter’s boyfriend was killed that night. “The devil awaits with open arms.”
“You are targeting a group of people for their simple existence,” said McHenry.
“Like too many other people in our culture, you chose to find a power that day behind the trigger of a gun, your actions reflect the deepest malice of the human heart and malice is almost always born of ignorance and fear,” the judge continued.
Relatives and friends of victims were able to give statements in court to remember their loved ones and survivors spoke about how their lives were forever altered just before midnight on 19 November when the suspect walked into Club Q and indiscriminately fired an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
The father of a Club Q bartender said Daniel Davis Aston had been in the prime of his life when he was shot and killed.
“He was a huge light in this world that was snuffed out by a heinous, evil and cowardly act,” Jeff Aston said. “I will never again hear him laugh at my dad jokes.”
Aston’s mother, Sabrina, was among those who said they would not forgive the crimes.
Another forgave Aldrich without excusing the crime.
“I forgive this individual, as they are a symbol of a broken system, of hate and vitriol pushed against us as a community,” said Wyatt Kent, Aston’s partner. “What brings joy to me is that this hurt individual will never be able to see the joy and the light that has been wrought into our community as an outcome.”
Aldrich’s body shook slightly as the victims and family members spoke. The defendant also looked down and glanced occasionally at a screen showing photos of the victims.
Aldrich did not reveal a motivation and declined to address the court during the sentencing part of the hearing. Defense attorney Joseph Archambault said “they want everyone to know they’re sorry”.
The guilty plea follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from Aldrich to the Associated Press expressing remorse for the shooting.
District attorney Michael Allen said Aldrich’s statements were self-serving and rang hollow.
“The ‘why’ matters. These victims were targeted for who they were and are,” Allen said to the judge. “Hatred coupled with criminal action will not be tolerated.”
Aldrichoriginally was charged with more than 300 state counts, including murder and hate crimes. The US justice department is considering pursuing federal hate crime charges, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the matter who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing case.
Aldrich hinted at plans to carry out violent attacks at least a year before the Club Q assault. In June 2021, their grandparents told authorities that they were warned not to stand in the way of a plan to stockpile guns, ammo, body armor and a homemade bomb.
However, the charges against Aldrich were thrown out in July 2022 after their mother and grandparents, the victims in the case, refused to cooperate with prosecutors, evading efforts to serve them with subpoenas to testify, according to court documents unsealed after the shooting. Other relatives told a judge they feared Aldrich would hurt their grandparents if released, painting a picture of an isolated, violent person who did not have a job and was given $30,000 that was spent largely on the purchase of 3D printers to make guns, the records showed.
Aldrich was released from jail then and authorities kept two guns – a ghost gun pistol and an MM15 rifle – seized in the arrest. But there was nothing to stop them from legally purchasing more firearms, raising questions immediately after the shooting about whether authorities should have sought a red flag order to prevent such purchases.
The El Paso county sheriff’s office said it would not have been able to seek a court order stopping them from buying or possessing guns because the 2021 arrest record was sealed after the charges were dropped. There was no new evidence that they could use to prove that Aldrich posed a threat “in the near future”, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators later revealed that the two guns Aldrich had during the Club Q attack – the rifle and a handgun – appeared to be ghost guns, or firearms without serial numbers that are homemade and do not require an owner to pass a background check.
Aldrich told the AP in one of the interviews from jail they were on a “very large plethora of drugs” and abusing steroids at the time of the attack. But they did not answer directly regarding the hate crimes charges. When asked whether the attack was motivated by hate, they said only that was “completely off base”. Their attorneys, who have not disputed their role in the shooting, have also pushed back on hate being the reason.
District attorney Allen said Aldrich knew exactly what they were doing during the attack and had drawn diagrams in advance indicating the best way to carry it out.
That night, when Ashtin Gamblin stared into Aldrich’s face, shots were already going off.
“I nuzzled up with my friend’s body, soaking my clothes in his blood, terrified that this person might come back,” said Gamblin, who was shot nine times. “I hope for the worst things possible in prison, and even that won’t be good enough.”