Accused Colorado LGBTQ club shooter back in court for preliminary
hearing
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[February 22, 2023]
By Keith Coffman
DENVER (Reuters) - The individual accused of fatally shooting five
people inside a Colorado LGBTQ nightclub last year was due in court on
Wednesday for a preliminary hearing in which a judge will decide whether
there is enough evidence to try the suspect for murder.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, has been held without bond at the El Paso
County jail since being arrested and has been charged with 323 criminal
counts stemming from the Nov. 19 rampage at Club Q in Colorado Springs.
The shooting spree left five bar patrons dead and nearly two dozen
others wounded by gunfire or otherwise injured.
Among the charges the defendant faces are first-degree murder, attempted
murder, assault and bias-motivated crimes.
Clad in body armor and armed with a handgun and an AR-15-style assault
rifle, Aldrich opened fire indiscriminately on club patrons, according
to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Two men inside the bar with military training subdued Aldrich and held
the suspect until police arrived, the affidavit said.
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One of the men pistol-whipped Aldrich as others pummeled the accused
assailant, leaving the suspect with multiple injuries that required
hospitalization.
Prosecutors have not publicly revealed whether they have determined a
motive for the shootings.
Aldrich's lawyers have asserted in court filings that their client
identifies as "non-binary" in gender and prefers them/they pronouns.
At a previous court hearing, a defense lawyer intimated that Aldrich may
have been in the club previously, including on the night of the
massacre.
Even if Aldrich identifies as a member of a protected class, the
defendant could still be found guilty of the hate crimes that have been
charged in the case, District Attorney Michael Allen told reporters
following an earlier hearing.
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![](../images/022223PIX/news_a25.jpg)
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, the suspect in
the mass shooting that killed five people and wounded 17 at an LGBTQ
nightclub appears seated before a judge during his charging hearing
in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S. December 6, 2022 in a still
image from livestream video. El Paso County Court/Handout via
REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Feb/22/images/ads/current/longviewbank_lda_020723.png)
"We're not going to tolerate actions against community members based
on their sexual identity," Allen said. "Members of that community
have been harassed, intimidated and abused for too long."
El Paso County District Judge Michael McHenry was assigned to
preside over the preliminary hearing, which was scheduled to run for
three days, according to the court docket.
The hearing's purpose is for prosecutors to outline their case with
the intention of persuading the judge there is enough evidence to
establish probable cause for the charges and proceed to trial.
The Q nightclub shooting is not the defendant's first brush with the
law. Aldrich was arrested in June 2021 after threatening to detonate
a bomb and harm a family member, prosecutors said. That case was
dismissed after the relatives who were the alleged victims declined
to testify for the prosecution.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Aldrich faces a mandatory
sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Colorado no longer has capital punishment on its books, but Aldrich
could face the death penalty if federal prosecutors decide to try
him on federal charges that still carry a death sentence.
(Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Editing by Steve Gorman and
Bradley Perrett)
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