CNN
—
The gunman who opened fire at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing five people and injuring 19, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday on federal hate crimes and gun violations.
In January, Anderson Lee Aldrich pleaded guilty to 74 counts of hate crimes and weapons possession in connection with the shooting, but prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty in that case.
In a press release announcing the agreement, the US Department of Justice called the attack “arbitrary, deliberate” and “malicious” and claimed it was carried out “based on an individual’s actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Aldrich, 24, pleaded guilty in 2023 to charges related to the shooting and is already serving five consecutive life sentences and an additional 2,212 years without the possibility of parole in Wyoming State Prison.
“The defendant’s brazen and calculated attacks on Club Q employees and patrons and the impact of the defendant’s actions on the larger LGBTQIA+ community justify this verdict and meet the sentencing objectives,” the Justice Department said in a statement submitted to the court.
The document describes the shooting as a “biased, premeditated attack with mass casualties.” According to the document, Aldrich had openly expressed his hatred of the LGBTQ+ community and had previously expressed an interest in mass shootings.
Aldrich began the Massacre at the club as patrons gathered for Transgender Day of Remembrance, for which Club Q had planned a weekend of events, including a drag show. The club was one of the few LGBTQ+ spaces in Colorado Springs and became known for fostering a safe and inclusive atmosphere in a conservative community.
The shooter spent more than $9,000 to purchase weapons and visited the club several times beforehand to familiarize himself with the space, according to the verdict.
Then, in the late morning hours of November 19, the then 22-year-old entered the club with an AR-15 assault rifle and began “shooting everyone in sight,” according to the sentencing document. Some guests hid or played dead while Aldrich walked through the club, firing indiscriminately.
The violence ended when an Army veteran, with the help of a Marine sergeant and a drag queen from the club, took down the shooter.
Two bar employees, Derrick Rump and Daniel Aston, as well as Ashley Paugh, Kelly Loving and Raymond Green Vance were killed.
Several victims who were shot but survived required surgery for their injuries and continue to struggle with medical problems, including limited mobility and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The shooting was reminiscent of the devastating 2016 shooting at Pulse, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which 49 people died.
For Colorado Springs’ queer community, the mass shooting was traumatic. The club was an important haven for people of all backgrounds living in a conservative stronghold. A trans man who worked as a drag king at Club Q told CNN after the shooting: “Our safety as queer people in Colorado Springs is now being questioned. I’m afraid to be myself as a trans man in this community.”
Aldrich faces a heavy sentence for the brutal attack: According to the district attorney, the 2023 sentence is the second longest ever imposed in Colorado. Only the longest prison sentence was imposed after the Aurora movie theater shooting in 2012.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the status of Anderson Lee Aldrich’s confession. The gunman agreed in January to plead guilty in connection with the Club Q shooting.
