In a recent federal court appearance, 23-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich faced federal hate crime charges for the shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs. This attack resulted in five deaths and threatened the safety of over 40 people. Aldrich pleaded not guilty to these federal allegations.
Previously, Aldrich was transferred to the Wyoming State Penitentiary for security reasons related to the high-profile nature of the case, as stated by Alondra Gonzalez, a representative for the Colorado Department of Corrections.
This federal indictment, which includes a series of federal firearm infractions, follows Aldrich’s guilty plea in a state court in June of the previous year. The charges consisted of five murder counts and 46 counts of attempted murder, representing each individual present at Club Q during the November 19, 2022 incident.
Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, also faced state-level hate crime charges. Under a plea agreement, Aldrich pleaded no contest, acknowledging the likelihood of a conviction without admitting guilt. They are expected to receive “multiple concurrent life sentences plus additional consecutive sentences totaling 190 years imprisonment,” upon a judge’s acceptance of the plea’s terms, the agreement says.
Following Aldrich’s sentencing in state court, the FBI launched an investigation into the shooting, which led to the federal charges. District Attorney Michael Allen indicated that the possibility of facing the death penalty under federal law played a significant role in influencing Aldrich to plead guilty to the charges at the state level.
During the sentencing hearing in state court, Aldrich chose not to make a statement. It is still unclear why Aldrich was hanging out at the club, left to put on body armor, returned with an AR-15-style rifle, and immediately began shooting the crowd.
Aldrich is presently incarcerated at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, serving a sentence of five consecutive life terms along with an additional 2,208 years in succession, without the chance of parole. This sentence is in response to their guilty plea in June to five counts of first-degree murder and 46 counts of attempted murder on state charges.
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