The shooter who killed five people and injured 19 more at the Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub Club Q in 2022 pleaded guilty to 50 federal hate-crime charges, The Hill reported.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, who uses they/them pronouns, entered the plea deal with prosecutors that allows them to avoid the death penalty; instead, they will be sentenced to more life sentences for the hate crimes and a total of 190 years on gun charges and other counts. They are already serving a life sentence after pleading guilty last June to state murder charges.
Prosecutors argued that Aldrich’s shooting was premeditated, with bias serving as the motivation. Defense attorneys contended that Aldrich was high on cocaine and medication at the time of the shooting. In a 2023 call with the AP, Aldrich said that hate did not motivate the shooting.
According to NBC Montana, There had been a chance to prevent such violence: Aldrich was arrested in June 2021, accused of threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer” while hoarding weapons, body armor and bomb-making materials. A felony conviction in the case would have prevented Aldrich from legally buying more firearms. However, Republican 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen said that most of the gun components were untraceable ghost gun parts that did not require Aldrich to pass a background check to acquire.
Those killed in the 2022 shooting included Daniel Aston, Ashley Paugh, Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump and Raymond Green Vance.