A Colorado Court has heard accused Club Q shooter Anderson Aldrich allegedly practiced shooting rainbow targets before they launched their deadly attack on the nightclub, and there is evidence they had also planned to live-stream his assault on the venue.
Warning: This report contains information about alleged violence against LGBTIQA+ people.
Aldrich is facing 323 charges over the incident that saw five people killed last November. Alongside the five murders Aldrich has also been charged with the attempted murder of every other person in the club at the time of the attack.
In court this week prosecutors laid out why they believe additional hate crime charges were also warranted.
They told the court that Aldrich ran a Neo-Nazi website and used racial and homophobic slurs while gaming online. Detective Rebecca Joines told the court that Aldrich posted an image online of a rifle scope trained on a gay pride parade before the attack.
Police also shared that they discovered a hat inside Aldrich’s vehicle that had a mobile phone taped to it. They believe this indicates that Aldrich had originally planned to live-stream his assault.
Police also showed the court a photo taken inside Aldrich’s mother’s bedroom that showed a target which was a silhouette of a person’s head surrounded by rainbow stripes.
Aldrich’s defence team have told the court that their client identifies as non-binary, and his actions were not motivated by a hated of LGBTIQA+ people. They say their client was under the influence of drugs, sleep deprived and was a victim of childhood trauma.
Aldrich remains in custody and is yet to enter a plea for any of the charges. Judge Michael McHenry will determine if prosecutors have enough evidence to warrant the additional hate crime charges.
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