Colorado Springs nightclub shooting
On November 19–20, 2022, an anti-LGBTQ–motivated mass shooting occurred at Club Q, a gay bar in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. Five people were killed, and 25 others were injured, 19 of them by gunfire. The shooter, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, was also injured while being restrained, and was taken to a local hospital. Aldrich was then charged and remanded in custody. On June 26, 2023, Aldrich pleaded guilty to the shooting and state level charges and was officially sentenced to a total of five consecutive life terms plus an additional consecutive 2,211 years, all without the possibility of parole. On January 16, 2024, Aldrich was additionally charged with 50 federal hate crimes in connection with the shooting. On June 18, 2024, Aldrich pleaded guilty to the federal charges and was sentenced to 55 concurrent life sentences without parole, plus a consecutive 190 years.
Background
Club Q is located at the 3430 block of North Academy Boulevard and opened in 2002. It was for a time the only LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, Colorado's second-most populous city with a population of just under 500,000. A 2021 article by Denver-based magazine 5280 noted the club to be a place "where LGBTQ folks for drag performances, dance parties, and drinks". The shooting occurred on the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance.Since 2019, Colorado has had a red flag law that allows citizens or law enforcement to petition a court to order the removal of firearms from a potentially dangerous person. Of the 19 states and the District of Columbia with red flag laws, Colorado has among the lowest per capita rates of invocation of the law. In opposition to the Colorado statute, more than half of the state's 64 counties declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, including El Paso County where the shooting occurred. According to the Los Angeles Blade, "It is El Paso County Sheriff's Office's explicit policy not to petition for an Extreme Risk Protection Order or Temporary Risk Protection Order to remove firearms from at-risk people."
Shooting
According to the police chief, the shooting began when Anderson Lee Aldrich entered Club Q while a dance party was being held. Wielding an AR-15–style rifle loaded with a 60-round drum magazine, carrying a with a Polymer80 PF940V2 handgun, carrying multiple magazines of ammunition, and wearing body armor, Aldrich immediately began firing at employees and patrons while moving further into the building. Aldrich entered the building, turned and shot two people in the ticket booth. The surviving victim, who was the door girl, was protected by Daniel Aston, who used his body to cover his coworker. Aldrich rushed to the bar area and opened fire on several victims there, including Kelly Loving, Raymond Green Vance, and Ashley Paugh. Aldrich walked down the ramp to the dance floor and shot more victims before going up the stairs towards the patio. Aldrich opened fire through the patio door and fatally shot Derrick Rump. At this point, Aldrich's rifle was empty and Aldrich began to reload the weapon. Many survivors at first mistook the gunfire for being a part of the music, until the shots continued and the occupants saw the muzzle flashes. Multiple people sheltered behind the bar and in dressing rooms, while others stayed low to the ground.Thirty-eight seconds after the shooting started, a U.S. Navy petty officer who was trapped in the patio, Thomas James, rushed towards the shooter and grabbed the barrel of their rifle. He struggled with the shooter for the rifle before Aldrich pulled out a handgun and shot James twice in the torso. A club patron, identified as U.S. Army veteran Richard M. Fierro, charged across the room and joined to help James. Aldrich pointed the handgun at Fierro but was unable to fire the gun due to the magazine falling out during the struggle. Fierro then grabbed the handgun from the shooter's hand and used it to hit the shooter repeatedly in the head. Fierro and James continued to fight the shooter. During this time, James successfully grabbed the rifle and slid it across the floor. A transgender woman, Drea Norman, came out of hiding and joined Fierro and James in subduing Aldrich. She stomped on the shooter's head repeatedly in order to keep them down. Fierro estimated the shooter's weight at.
Police received an initial call for service regarding the shooting at 11:56 p.m. on November 19, with the first officer being dispatched a minute later. A total of 39 patrol officers from all four divisions of the Colorado Springs Police Department, along with 34 firefighters and 11 ambulances, responded to the scene. The suspect was in custody within about five minutes after the first 9-1-1 call. After the shooting stopped, many were at first reluctant to leave their hiding spots as they were unsure if the shooter was reloading or had been stopped. Fierro, who had been covered in blood, was placed in police custody in a squad car for over an hour before he was cleared of suspicion and released.
The injured were transported to three hospitals: seven to Penrose Hospital, 10 to Memorial Hospital Central, and two to Memorial Hospital North. Some ambulances, with most of them AMR, had to transport up to three patients at a time, and a few police cruisers had to transport victims as well.
Victims
Five people were killed, and 25 others were injured in the shooting, of whom 19 were by gunfire. One of the deceased victims, Daniel Aston, was a bar supervisor and a frequent performer at the nightclub. Another fatality, Raymond Vance, was the boyfriend of Fierro's daughter.During the press conference, the chief of the Colorado Springs Police Department made a point to say the department respected all community members and that they would be identifying the deceased by the names they and their loved ones used. He then read the names of the deceased victims and included their pronouns.
Aftermath
A vigil was held on November 20 with standing room only at the All Souls Unitarian Church, which was also attended by several members of the City Council.Additional memorials and events were held throughout the week, which promoted spaces for people to gather and donate.
Donation drives were set up shortly after the shooting from both local organizations and GoFundMe fundraisers for the victims and their families.
On November 24, Colorado Springs evangelical ministry Focus on the Family was targeted with a graffiti message, reading: "Their blood is on your hands. Five lives taken."
Perpetrator
The shooter was identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, a then 22-year-old resident of Colorado Springs. Aldrich was born as Nicholas Franklin Brink on May 20, 2000, in San Diego, California, to Aaron Brink, a former pornographic film actor and mixed martial arts fighter, and Laura Voepel, the daughter of Randy Voepel, a Republican former member of the California State Assembly. Voepel and Brink separated and divorced one year after Aldrich's birth, while Voepel went on to receive custody over Aldrich. Her tumultuous life – which included multiple arrests and mental health evaluations – resulted in Aldrich being cared for by Voepel's mother and stepfather, who eventually became Aldrich's legal guardians.Aldrich grew up in northern San Antonio, Texas, and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though according to the church, had not been involved in church services for at least a decade. Records indicate that Aldrich was a target of online bullying that involved homophobic taunts while in middle school. A mocking Encyclopedia Dramatica page was created about Aldrich in 2015, and he was also a contributor to the site since he was 15. In the aftermath of the shooting, the website issued a statement saying: "It wasn't our fault, we swear!" Aldrich changed names on April 28, 2016, shortly before turning 16, citing a desire to remove associations with Aaron Brink, who by that point had multiple criminal convictions.
Aldrich's attorneys have said in court documents that their client identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, preferring to be addressed as Mx. Aldrich. Neighbors allege Aldrich to have made hateful comments towards the LGBTQ community in the past, including frequent usage of homophobic slurs. Aldrich never mentioned being non-binary prior to the shooting and was referred to with masculine pronouns by family members. Police testified they found rainbow-colored shooting targets in Aldrich's home. Experts in online extremism have voiced the possibility that Aldrich's proclaimed self-identification could be disingenuous, while the Center for Countering Digital Hate acknowledges the suspect's past actions and impact on the LGBTQ community.
Prior incidents
On June 18, 2021, Aldrich's maternal grandparents revealed their plans to relocate to Florida. Angered at the development, Aldrich complained about losing access to the material stored in the basement which was intended for "conduct a mass shooting and bombing". Aldrich held the grandparents hostage and threatened to murder them. Eventually, Aldrich let them go, shifted to Voepel's house, and holed up there. During an hour-long standoff with Colorado SWAT, an armed Aldrich live-streamed from inside and threatened to blow up the house. Neighboring homes had to be evacuated. Upon surrendering, a tub filled with explosive-grade material — including ammonium nitrate and tannerite — was recovered alongside handguns, ballistic vests, and gas masks; Aldrich was jailed and charged with multiple counts of kidnapping and felony menacing. Aldrich entered a not guilty plea and was released on bail a fortnight later. The case made negligible progress, with Voepel and the grandparents refusing to accept any subpoena to avoid testifying against Aldrich. In July 2022, the case was dismissed, and records were sealed a month later.Twice before the 2021 incident Aldrich had been reported to Colorado Police for "escalating homicidal behavior". On June 17, 2021, Aldrich's grand-aunt contacted the FBI to report Aldrich was planning to kill Christians and government employees after Aldrich's grandfather had reported being threatened by Aldrich; however, the family did not press charges with local police. There is no record that law enforcement authorities or Aldrich's relatives attempted to trigger the Colorado red flag law, which might have allowed for the seizure of any weapons and ammunition that Aldrich possessed.
Aldrich and Laura Voepel had conflicts with passengers and crew during a July 2022 flight from California to Colorado. They were accused of harassing others while aboard the plane and insulting some with racial slurs. After deplaning, Aldrich was filmed saying to another passenger: "I wish I can shoot all of you" and "You keep following me and I'm going to fuck you up."