Federal judge accepts settlement for Club Q shooters and imposes 55 life sentences in Colorado

The gunman who opened fire at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs in 2022 was convicted Tuesday on a federal court indictment.

A mass shooting at Club Q left five people dead and 19 injured, leaving a painful scar in Colorado. Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, called it a “brazen and calculated attack on innocent people.”

“This was one of the most violent, hate-filled mass murders against the LGBTQIA+ community in our country’s history,” she said. “This tragedy goes against our most fundamental American values, respect for the sanctity of life and the intrinsic worth of every human being.”

At the end of last year, the shooter sentenced to life imprisonment on state charges and was transferred from a prison in Colorado to a Wyoming state prisonThe convicted killer had pleaded guilty in state court to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder, as well as pleading no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crimes, resulting in a sentence that included five consecutive life sentences and 2,208 years in prison.

On Tuesday morning, Anderson Lee Aldrich pleaded guilty to dozens of federal hate crimes and weapons offenses. Those confessions came as part of a deal with prosecutors that allowed the shooter to avoid the death penalty and instead be sentenced to multiple life sentences for the hate crimes.

Early Tuesday afternoon, the judge accepted the plea deal and the sentence is 55 years to life in prison for the hate crime, followed by 190 years for weapons possession and other charges.

“Before committing this heinous crime, the defendant created a website where he posted videos espousing racist ideology and discussing racially motivated mass shootings. The defendant used online platforms to spread homophobic and transgender views,” Clarke said.

Family members of victims of the Nov. 19, 2022, shooting made emotional statements to the judge, calling for the death penalty. Prosecutors said in a Jan. 9 brief that they would not seek the death penalty.

Although the shooter would have been allowed to testify in the courtroom, he chose not to do so.

The shooter was arrested about 5 minutes after the shooting began, after people inside the bar took action and were able to arrest the shooter.

All of the following people were killed in the shooting: Ashley Paugh, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump, Raymond Green Vance and Kelly Loving. They were between the ages of 22 and 40.

Since the shooting, the nightclub has changed locations and is now open in the Satellite Hotel, several miles south in Colorado Springs.