CNN
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The gunman who opened fire at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado in 2022, killing five people and injuring 19, is expected to be convicted of federal hate crimes and firearms violations.
Anderson Lee Aldrich pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday to 74 counts of hate crimes and weapons possession related to the shooting. Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty in the case, and the U.S. Justice Department announced in January that it had reached a plea agreement with Aldrich.
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney said she would wait to accept the plea agreement – which gives Aldrich a sentence of 55 years to life without the possibility of parole plus 190 years – until the criminal trial concludes on Tuesday.
Aldrich, 24, is already serving five consecutive life sentences and an additional 2,212 years without the possibility of parole in Wyoming State Prison after pleading guilty to state charges for the attack in 2023. The attack targeted one of the few LGBTQ+ spaces in Colorado Springs that fostered a safe and inclusive atmosphere in a conservative community.
“I loved this place,” Ashtin Gamblin, who was shot nine times and survived, said in her victim impact statement before the sentencing. Although she is not a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Gamblin said she is an ally.
“I liked everyone there,” she said, thanking Club Q bar supervisor Daniel Aston for saving her life before he was killed.
In addition to Aston, Derrick Rump, another Club Q employee, as well as Ashley Paugh, Kelly Loving and Raymond Green Vance were also killed.
In a ruling submitted to the court ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, the Justice Department called the shooting a “brazen and calculated” attack on club employees and patrons, describing it as a “biased, premeditated attack with a large number of victims.”
Aldrich began the Massacre at the club as guests gathered for Transgender Day of Remembrance, for which Club Q had planned a weekend of events, including a drag show.
The shooter spent more than $9,000 to buy weapons and visited the club several times beforehand to familiarize himself with the ambience, the sentencing document states. Aldrich had openly expressed his hatred of the LGBTQ+ community and had previously expressed an interest in mass shootings, the document states.
Then, in the late hours of Nov. 19, 2022, the then 22-year-old entered the club with an AR-15-style assault rifle and began “shooting everyone in sight,” according to the sentencing document. Some patrons hid or played dead while Aldrich walked through the club, firing indiscriminately.
El Paso County District Court/AP
Anderson Lee Aldrich, center, sits during a court hearing in Colorado Springs in November 2022.
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.
The shooting was reminiscent of the devastating 2016 shooting at Pulse, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which 49 people died.
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.
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.
