COLORADO SPRINGS — The suspect in the attack on an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs visited the club six times in the 15 months before the attack — including the night of the mass shooting — buying drinks, food and at least one ticket to a drag show over the course of the visits, court testimony revealed Wednesday.
Anderson Aldrich, 22, is accused of killing five people and injuring 22 others during the Nov. 19 mass shooting at Club Q on North Academy Boulevard.
Video surveillance footage shows Aldrich first visited the club around 10:15 p.m., stayed for just a few minutes, left and then returned just before midnight. At that point Aldrich entered the club dressed in body armor and opened fire on patrons, investigators said.
Aldrich is facing more than 300 criminal charges in connection with the shooting, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and bias-motivated crimes. The 22-year-old identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, Aldrich’s public defenders have said in court filings.
During a preliminary hearing Wednesday, prosecutors presented evidence aimed at supporting the bias-motivated charges against Aldrich — that is, the allegations that the suspect targeted the club because it catered to LGBTQ people.
But Aldrich’s public defenders, Joseph Archambault and Michael Bowman, sought to cast doubt on that motive. They presented evidence that Aldrich had been prescribed medications used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression and mood disorders, and emphasized that their client regularly patronized Club Q for months without issue before the attack.
Colorado Springs police Detective Rebecca Joines, the lead investigator on the case, testified Wednesday that Aldrich “expressed hatred toward police and the LGBTQ community.” Aldrich sent a photo to a friend that depicted a rifle scope aimed at a gay pride parade, she testified, and watched white supremacist videos. In June, Aldrich called a property manager a homophobic slur during an argument, she testified.
Investigators also found a rainbow-colored gun target in Aldrich’s apartment and a rough sketch of the layout of Club Q, testimony revealed. The rainbow-colored target, found in Aldrich’s mother’s bedroom in the apartment they shared, showed the dark silhouette of a person’s head and shoulders, with rainbow-colored stripes around the silhouette, according to photos shown in court.
Witnesses also told police that Aldrich had claimed their mother was non-binary and that she forced Aldrich to go to gay clubs, Joines testified, and that Aldrich was obsessed with the idea of homicide and watching homicidal videos.
Investigators found a handwritten note inside Aldrich’s apartment after the attack, Colorado Springs police Detective Jason Gasper testified. The note read, “Please relieve me of my own fate, I am drowning in my own wake, how long must I wait for you to rid me of this hate,” Joines testified.
On cross-examination, investigators agreed with public defenders that they did not know who wrote the note, that Aldrich never used homophobic slurs during or immediately after the attack, that Aldrich apologized after the shooting and said they had not slept for days, and that investigators never found a written manifesto expressing specific hatred of LGBTQ people.
“There was concerning writings,” Gasper said. “But as far as being directly targeted toward the LGBTQ community? No, not that I’ve seen anyway.”
During a struggle with club patrons during the attack, Aldrich allegedly said, “‘My mom will not accept me because I am gay, you’re all the same,’” Joines testified. After the attack, Aldrich cried and said, “I really (expletive) up, I killed all those (expletive) people.”
Defense attorneys suggested Aldrich was abused by their mother and used a significant number of illegal drugs before the mass shooting.
Colorado Springs police officers methodically walked through the evidence against Aldrich bit by bit during Wednesday’s preliminary hearing, which is scheduled to last through Friday. Crime scene photos displayed in court showed the aftermath of the carnage: a lone shoe, a bloody rainbow suspender, a tooth in the snow near a yellow hoop earring. There was an overturned table, a wall riddled with bullet holes, cartridge casings and magazines of ammunition.
Victims watching the hearing cried and gasped as graphic crime scene photos were shown that depicted bodies and blood. Aldrich tapped their leg and shook. A member of the defense team rubbed Aldrich’s shoulder and handed them tissues. Aldrich blew their nose at times. The defendant did not speak.
Five people died in the attack: Daniel Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38; and Raymond Green Vance, 22.
Inside Aldrich’s apartment, investigators found camouflage, gun parts and ammunition that matched the ammunition found in the club, Gasper testified. On cross-examination, Gasper agreed with Aldrich’s public defenders that owning gun parts and shooting targets is not illegal.
Colorado Springs police Officer Connor Wallick testified about being one of the first officers to arrive at the crime scene.
“I could hear people screaming, crying,” Wallick testified. “I could smell a lot of gunpowder. You could hear the music that was still going.”
By the time he arrived, the shooter already had been subdued by club patrons Richard Fierro and Thomas James, who together tackled and disarmed the suspect.
Colorado Springs Detective Ashton Gardner offered the most detailed description yet of James’ actions during the attack. The U.S. Navy member was the first to confront the shooter during the attack, Gardner testified. James grabbed the barrel of the AK-15-style rifle — which was so hot it burned blisters into his hand — and then wrestled with Aldrich, falling down a landing and a short set of stairs in the club.
Aldrich at some point in the struggle abandoned the rifle and instead pulled a handgun from their vest. The gun fired twice as they fought, and James was shot in his chest and diaphragm, Gardner testified. After he was shot, surveillance video shows James kept fighting the suspect and received help from other patrons, including Fierro.
“It’s clear he’s very winded but he continues to do what he can to subdue the suspect until police arrive,” Gardner testified. He added that James later gave up his spot in an ambulance so someone else could be helped first.
Aldrich denied being the shooter when officers arrived and claimed to have been shot, Wallick testified, though later inspection showed no such gunshot wound.
Both of the guns that Aldrich used in the attack were “privately manufactured, or home-assembled” guns, Allen said in court. Investigators traced the slide of the handgun to a seller in Florida and found that part of the gun was sold to Aldrich’s mother in November 2021. The AR-style rifle was untraceable, Joines testified.
The weapon Aldrich used in the attack was equipped with a flashlight and a “red-dot style” sight, Gasper testified. Investigators also found a baseball hat with a cellphone duct-taped to the bill — camera facing forward — on the front seat of Aldrich’s vehicle, which Aldrich left running and with the driver’s side door open when they entered the club, testimony revealed.
At the end of the preliminary hearing, Fourth Judicial District Judge Michael McHenry will decide whether there is enough evidence to support the charges against Aldrich. The judge could dismiss some charges or allow the case to go forward as is.
The hearing will resume Thursday morning.
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