COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is expected to plead guilt y Monday in an attack last year that killed five people and wounded 17 at a longtime sanctuary for the LGBTQ+ community in the mostly conservative city.
The plea could bring a life sentence for suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich and end the court case just seven months after the shooting — sparing victim’s families and survivors a potentially painful trial that would force them to revisit the attack.
Victims’ family members and survivors are expected to speak at Monday’s hearing about how their lives were forever altered by the terror that erupted just before midnight on Nov. 19 when the suspect walked into Club Q and indiscriminately fired an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
Aldrich, who is nonbinary and uses they and them pronouns, had been arrested over a year before the attack for threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer.” But, charges in that case were ultimately dropped.
Monday’s hearing follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from Aldrich to The Associated Press expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences at this court hearing. Several survivors told the AP about a planned plea agreement after being approached about Aldrich’s comments. They said prosecutors had notified them that Aldrich will plead guilty to charges that would ensure a sentence of life behind bars.
Federal and state authorities and defense attorneys have declined to comment on a possible plea agreement for Aldrich but Colorado law requires victims to be notified of such developments.
Aldrich faces more than 300 state counts, including murder and hate crimes. The U.S. Justice Department is considering pursuing federal hate crime charges, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing case.
Aldrich hinted at plans to carry out violent attacks at least a year before the Club Q assault. In June 2021, Aldrich’s grandparents told authorities that they were warned not to stand in the way of a plan to stockpile guns, ammo, body armor and a homemade bomb to become “the next mass killer.” Aldrich was then arrested after a standoff with SWAT officers that was livestreamed on Facebook and the evacuation of 10 nearby homes, telling officers “If they breach, I’m a f—-ing blow it to holy hell!” Aldrich eventually surrendered.
