Anderson Lee Aldrich, shooter at LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs, sentenced to multiple life sentences | US News

In the attack, Anderson Lee Aldrich killed five people and injured 19 others.

A man who killed five people in a shooting at an LGBTQ+ club has been sentenced to 55 life terms.

Anderson Lee Aldrich entered Club Q – a sanctuary for LGBTQ+ people in the conservative city of Colorado Springs – with a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun during a drag show in November 2022.

Nineteen other people were injured in the attack, including an employee who worked at the door and remains in physical therapy after being shot nine times.

Aldrich pleaded guilty today to the hate crimes charged in federal court, but declined to apologize or speak to the victims’ families.

He is is already serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in connection with the shooting.

Federal prosecutors focused on proving that the attack was intentional and motivated by bias – and through the deal, Aldrich repeatedly admitted to expressing hatred toward LGBTQ+ people.

“The admission that these were hate crimes is important for the government, and it is important for the Club Q community,” said prosecutor Alison Connaughty.

“It’s a special meeting place for anyone who needs community and that safe place,” she said. “We met people who said, ‘This place saved my life and I was able to feel normal again.'”

District Judge Charlotte Sweeney – the first openly gay federal judge in Colorado – heard testimony from the victims before accepting the settlement, which also includes a total sentence of 190 years on weapons possession and other charges.

She told Aldrich, “You’ll never get out of prison.”

The court heard investigators had found evidence of Aldrich’s hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community – including a target with a rainbow ring containing bullets in his home and two websites he had created to post hateful content.

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According to evidence presented by prosecutors, he spent more than $9,000 on gun purchases in the two years before the attack.

Also found in his apartment was a hand-drawn map of Club Q, along with a black folder containing training materials titled “Dealing with an Active Shooter.”

Aldrich visited the club at least eight times before the attack – just an hour and a half before the shooting.

Shortly before midnight, he returned with a tactical vest with ballistic equipment and an AR-15-style rifle.

He immediately started shooting, killing the first person in the entrance area before shooting bartenders and people at the bar and then heading to the dance floor.

Aldrich was stopped by a naval officer who grabbed the barrel of the rifle and burned his hand, and an Army veteran who overpowered him.