Colorado LGBTQ club shooting: Suspect Anderson Aldrich ran neo-Nazi website and used gay and racial slurs
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers' discretion advised.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO: Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, who is accused of killing five people and injuring more than a dozen others in a deadly mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs on November 19, 2022, reportedly ran a neo-Nazi website and used gay and racial slurs online. Detective Rebecca Joines of the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) testified on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, that Aldrich was the administrator for a neo-Nazi website called 'freespeech2.RU' and said evidence indicates that the suspect was considering live-streaming the November 19 attack.
During the first day of a preliminary hearing at El Paso District Court, prosecutors got four witnesses to the stand, the officers and detectives from the Colorado Springs Police Department who worked on the mass shoot case, while defense attorney Joseph Archambault showed evidence that focused on the suspect’s mental health issues, reports CPR.
Detective Joines said Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they and them, went to Club Q six times in that year, bought drinks, did karaoke, and also attended a drag show. He further said that people aware of the website described the hatred Aldrich expressed for the LGBTQ community and for law enforcement, and used slurs while playing online games, reports USA Today.
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'He hated gays': Club Q shooter Anderson Aldrich made vile anti-LGBTQ slurs, says neighbor
Aldrich was obsessed with homicide and Nazis
Xavier Kraus, a former neighbor, and Aldrich's friend told in 2022 that an FBI agent enquired him about two websites. And one of them, a “free speech” site where people anonymously posted racist and antisemitic memes, language and videos, was created by the suspect, states NBC. The friend said Aldrich described the site as “a platform where people could go and post pretty much whatever they want.” The defense attorney countered that Aldrich, who is charged with more than 305 counts in the shooting, including bias-motivated charges, was not anti-LGBTQ, but was high on multiple drugs and had an abusive family.
An online friend of the suspect told police that Laura Voepell, Aldrich’s mother, forced him to go to gay bars. Police were informed that Voepell identified as nonbinary. The unidentified friend also told that Aldrich was obsessed with homicide and the Nazis, and he hated police, minorities, and LGBTQ people, states CPR.
What happened at Club Q?
Surveillance video from the night of November 19, 2022, showed Aldrich entering the club wearing a red T-shirt and tan vest while holding an AR-style rifle, with six magazines for the weapon and a pistol visible. He opened fire, killing Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, and Derrick Rump, and over 19 others were injured, reports CNN.
CSPD Officer Connor Wallick, who was among the first to arrive at the club that night, testified on February 22 that he was at a mall nearby when he heard the call for the shooting. He said, "I heard there was active shooting going on. Heard continuously that the suspect was in the bar and wearing body armor and had an AR-style weapon," quotes 9News.
One of the injured individuals, Barrett Hudson, said in a Facebook video that he "shouldn't be alive" after being hit seven times. He said, "All the bullets missed my organs. Saturday night I thought I was dead. Sunday, I thought I would never walk again. Tuesday, I'm walking," according to BBC.
War veteran Richard Fierro and Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Thomas James subdued the suspect until police arrived at the scene, reports Sky News. If convicted of first-degree murder, Aldrich faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
