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The shooter who carried out the November 2022 attack at an LGBTQ+ nightclub is already serving a life sentence related to state charges.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The person who already pleaded guilty to state charges related to a deadly shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in 2022 is expected to enter a second guilty plea Tuesday morning – this time to federal hate crime charges and weapons violations.
Anderson Aldrich was sentenced to life in prison last June after pleading guilty to the state charges of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder — one for each person at Club Q during the attack on Nov. 19, 2022.
Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, Derrick Rump and Raymond Green Vance were killed in the shooting. Seventeen other people were wounded.
Aldrich made a deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to hate crime charges and firearm violations in connection with the Nov. 19, 2022, shooting. The plea agreement still needs a judge’s approval.
According to the sentencing statement, the shooter had been at the club at least eight times before the shooting, including one visit about an hour and a half before the shooting.
The document says the shooter, who since their arrest has identified as nonbinary, shared anti-transgender views online. The shooter also used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and expressed an interest in mass shootings, the document says.
The document says the shooter was fired from a job weeks before the shooting, in September 2022. Shortly after the termination, the shooter’s former supervisor, who is gay, “received a barrage of emails containing anti-gay slurs and commentary,” according to the document.
While there is no longer a death penalty – the shooter could have been sentenced to death under federal sentencing laws. However, as a result of the plea deal, Aldrich avoids the death penalty and instead will be sentenced to life without parole followed by 190 years behind bars, the sentencing statement says.
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