Accused Club Q shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich has appeared in court for the second time with prosecutors filing 305 charges in relation to their alleged crime.
The 22-year-old is accused of murdering five people and injuring many others when they allegedly entered the Club Q LGBTIQA+ venue in Colorado Springs last month firing an Ar-15 style assault rifle. They were overpowered by club patrons who also discovered that Aldrich was carrying a pistol.
On Wednesday (WA time) Aldrich made his first appearance in court as the prosecutors laid out their case against him. Aldrich is represented by the city’s public defender. His previous court appearance was via video link where he appeared bruised and battered from the interaction with club patrons. In his most recent appearance, he appeared in a bright yellow prison uniform and sat with his head slumped.
Among the raft of charges Aldrich is facing are count of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, assault charges, and bias-motivated crimes – Colorado’s phrase for a hate crime.
The court heard that Aldrich entered the venue just before midnight and began shooting people, their assault lasting six minutes until they were tackled by beaten by patrons. Prosecutors have not ruled out the possibility of filing additional charges.
Judge rules details of previous bomb threat incident must be made public
The following day the judge ordered the details of a previous case from 2021 where Aldrich was accused of holding their own family members hostage and making bomb threats should be made public.
Joseph Archambault, the public defender representing Aldrich, had argued that the previous case should remained sealed because his client had never been convicted of any charges, and if the public were aware of the details of the 2021 incident his client would not be able to receive a fair trial.
It appears prosecutors were unable to proceed with the earlier case because Aldrich’s victims, his mother Laura Voepel, and grandparents Pamela and Jonathan Pullen, had refused to cooperate with the police. Lawyers for his mother pleaded with the judge to keep the case sealed, and Archambault said he had spoken to the grandparents who also did not want the details.
Judge Robin Chittum ruled that the public interest “greatly outweighed” Aldrich’s right to privacy and a fair trial.
Aldrich was arrested last year at his mother’s home after they allegedly claimed to have a bomb and a plan to use it. In arrest records Aldrich claimed to want to be the next “mass shooter” and “go out in a blaze”.
The incident began at the home of his grandparents. They reportedly that their grandchild chugged a bottle of vodka and loaded bullets into a Glock pistol while telling them they planned to kill them.
“You guys die today and I’m taking you with me,” they are quoted Aldrich as saying. “I’m loaded and ready.”
Aldrich had become upset because his grandparents announced they were planning to relocate to Florida. Aldrich allegedly said their relocation would interrupt his plans to store guns and bombs in their basement. When he went to the basement his grandparents fled the home and called police.
Shortly afterwards Aldrich appeared at a home where their mother was renting a room. They arrived with a large black back and announced this is where they would be making their last stand.
SWAT teams responded to the incident and evacuated 10 nearby homes. Footage from the home’s Ring camera show their mother running from the house, and later captures Aldrich surrendering to the police after a stand-off.
The previous incident has left the local community asking why Aldrich was still able to own guns when the state has provisions which would have allowed authorities to confiscate them. Aldrich had previously asked news organisations to remove their reports of the incident arguing that because it was never prosecuted it should be deleted from their web sites.
Chilling images of Aldrich at Club Q released
The court has also released chilling images of Andrich arriving at the venue and a CCTV image of them at the club’s entrance firing an assault rifle. OUTinPerth has chosen not to include the images in this report.
They show the 22-year-old arriving in their Toyota Highlander and already wearing a ballistic vest and armed with an Ar-15 style assault rifle. After walking a short distance to the club’s entrance Alrich immediately opens fire. The affidavit filed by police shares that the video footage also contains audio. Club owner Matthew Hayes has also provided police with the CCTV footage from inside the club, but this has not been released.
Police have also noted that while he was held in a hospital after the shooting Aldrich alleged told medical staff that they had been awake for four days.
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