COLORADO SPRINGS — The attacker who killed five people and injured 22 in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub last year pleaded guilty to murder Monday and was sentenced to five consecutive lifetimes in prison.
The courtroom swelled with rage, grief and defiance as survivors confronted the shooter, Anderson Aldrich, and cursed the 23-year-old to hell, vowing not to let the targeted attack destroy the city’s LGBTQ community.
Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and 46 counts of attempted first-degree murder in the Nov. 19 mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs.
The defendant also pleaded no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crime, acknowledging that prosecutors likely could prove the attack was motivated at least in part because Club Q was an LGBTQ bar, patronized by people who identify as LGBTQ.
Immediately after the guilty plea, El Paso County District Court Judge Michael McHenry sentenced Aldrich to five life sentences plus another 2,208 years in prison — 48 years for each of the 46 attempted-murder charges.
“For taking these five lives, and attempting to take 46 more, you will now spend the rest of your life in prison,” he said. “We grieve this loss of life. And we affirm the value of all members of our community. Justice demands no less.”
Those killed by Aldrich were Daniel Davis Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38; Raymond Green Vance, 22.
Survivors speak in court
Ashtin Gamblin wore the same sweatshirt to court Monday that she wore when she was shot nine times at the front door of Club Q.
Standing feet from a handcuffed Aldrich, Gamblin recounted how she was shot repeatedly, but was shielded from fatal injury by bartender Daniel Aston, who stood in front of her and blocked the gunfire with his body.
“Daniel saved my life,” she said.
After the shooter moved further into the bar, Gamblin covered herself in Aston’s blood, trying to hide.
“I nuzzled up with my friend’s body, soaking my clothes in his blood, terrified that this person may come back,” she said. “I listened as everything unfolded. And when the music stopped, I could hear screams in full force.”
Video surveillance footage previously played in court showed Aldrich donning body armor and attacking the club just before midnight, opening fire on patrons and staff with what authorities described as an “AR-15-style rifle.” Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen said Monday that the rifle was assembled from various privately manufactured gun parts that lacked serial numbers.
Shortly after opening fire, Aldrich was tackled by two club patrons and disarmed before police arrived.
Gamblin on Monday shed her sweatshirt to show those in the courtroom the scars left from the attack — long red lines that run up the back of her arms. She said she felt the plea deal was “weakness,” and that Aldrich deserves to suffer.
“I pray that one day he even feels an ounce of what we do, and it eats at him every minute until the world is a better place because he is no longer in it,” she said.
That anger was echoed by many of the nearly two dozen survivors and victims’ family members who addressed the court during Aldrich’s sentencing hearing. Several people expressed their anger directly to Aldrich, turning to address the defendant or pointing in Aldrich’s direction as they spoke.
Speakers called Aldrich an “animal,” “bigot,” “coward,” “monster” and a “terrorist.”
“You have to live with this shame in your small cell until you die,” said Sabrina Aston, mother to Daniel Aston. “Not for one minute do I believe your words of regret and remorse.”
Aldrich sometimes shook but for the most part sat still and silent as speaker after speaker expressed their grief and anger. Several speakers told Aldrich that the hatred that motivated the attack will not overcome the love and joy they’ve found within the LGBTQ community.
“You did not succeed in destroying this community,” Club Q owner Matthew Haynes said. “Club Q will open, with a memorial to remember those who were killed for generations to come.”
“I’m sure the shooter thinks he took our spirit that night — he took our friends away forever — but he didn’t,” survivor Ed Sanders said in a written statement read in court. “You cannot destroy our community by destroying individuals. You cannot kill our love and our spirit, because love wins.”
That hope was coupled with crippling accounts of pain and trauma. Many people in the courtroom wept at points in the hearing. Some were so overcome with emotion they could not speak.
“The trauma of being in a moment when everything is fun, normal and safe, and to have the pendulum swing so extreme to, ‘I’m about to die,’ is a type of mental whiplash I wouldn’t wish on anybody,” said survivor Michael Anderson.
Drea Norman, a transgender woman, recounted stomping on Aldrich’s head as U.S. Navy member Thomas James and U.S. Army veteran Richard Fierro fought to subdue the shooter.
“As I stood above him, my only thought was to throw my foot down. Stop him. And after 10 strikes, I stopped, feeling like that was more than enough,” she said.
Stephanie Clark, sister of slain victim Ashley Paugh, described the moment she told her young niece that Paugh had been killed.
“The screams and the cries of, ‘No no no,’ and begging us to please do something to bring her mommy back are forever etched in my mind,” Clark said. “That is something I wish he would have to hear every day for the rest of his life.”
Hate crimes and an FBI probe
Prosecutors originally pursued more than 300 charges against Aldrich, including 48 counts of bias-motivated crimes, and argued that Aldrich targeted the club at least in part because it was an LGBTQ space.
Prosecutors pointed to a photo that Aldrich had shared of a rifle scope aimed at a gay pride parade, and that he was an administrator of a website to which a neo-Nazi, white supremacist propaganda video was posted.
But Aldrich’s public defenders pushed back against those allegations. Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, had visited Club Q as a patron at least six times in the 15 months before the attack — apparently without incident, the defense attorneys said. In court, they showed a photo of Aldrich smiling in the club in August 2021 with their mother.
On Monday, prosecutors dropped all but two of those bias-motivated counts as part of the plea agreement with Aldrich, and agreed to allow the shooter to plead no contest to the remaining two bias-motivated crime counts, a felony and a misdemeanor.
That means Aldrich admitted prosecutors had enough evidence to secure convictions on those counts, but did not actually plead guilty. In interviews with the Associated Press before the guilty plea, Aldrich said they wanted to take responsibility for the killings and denied that the attack was motivated by hate against the LGBTQ community.
Allen said Monday that the no-contest plea is practically identical to a guilty plea, and a “small price to pay” to resolve the case quickly with five first-degree murder convictions.
“It carries the exact same weight as if he had entered a guilty plea,” Allen said at a news conference after the court hearing.
Aldrich was sentenced on the two bias-motivated charges to three years and 364 days in prison. Those sentences run concurrently with Aldrich’s life sentences.
During Monday’s hearing, Aldrich confirmed that they identify as nonbinary and told the judge, “I am Mx. Aldrich.”
But Allen expressed doubt about the claim, saying that there was “zero evidence” that Aldrich identified as nonbinary before the mass shooting.
“I think it was a stilted effort to avoid any bias-motivated or hate crimes charges,” Allen said. He also suggested that Aldrich’s guilty plea to the state charges is aimed at avoiding a federal prosecution. Aldrich could face the death penalty should federal prosecutors pursue charges.
“If you take full responsibility at the state level, that can sometimes avoid a federal death sentence pursuit,” Allen said. “Whether that happens or not is up to the federal attorney’s office.”
He added that he believes Aldrich should be sentenced to death.
The FBI announced Monday that the agency has opened an investigation into Aldrich and the attack at Club Q. FBI Agent in Charge Mark Michalek would not say whether the FBI has recommended that federal charges be filed against Aldrich.
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