One year before allegedly killing five people and injuring more than a dozen others inside a Colorado Springs LGBT+ nightclub, a “bomb threat” case against Anderson Lee Aldrich was dismissed by an El Paso County judge after prosecutors were unable to issue subpoenas to the suspect’s family members, according to District Attorney Michael Allen.
Mr Allen said the suspect’s grandparents, who live in Florida, refused to cooperate with investigators and defence attorneys in the case, which was dropped and under seal three just months before the mass shooting inside Club Q.
“We prosecuted it until we couldn’t prosecute it any longer,” Mr Allen told reporters during a news conference on 8 December, after a judge ordered that the case records could be unsealed. It marked the first time that his office had publicly discussed the case.
On 6 December, Mr Aldrich was charged with 305 criminal counts – including five counts of first-degree murder and multiple counts of hate crimes – in the wake of the shooting on 19 November that has rocked the LGBT+ community in Colorado Springs.
In June of last year, Mr Aldrich was arrested on charges of felony menacing and kidnapping after the suspect’s mother reported to police that he “was threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons and ammunition.”
Newly unsealed law enforcement documents allege that Mr Aldrich loaded bullets into a Glock pistol and warned family members of an alleged plan to stockpile weapons and commit mass violence.
“You guys die today and I’m taking you with me,” Mr Aldrich is quoted as saying. “I’m loaded and ready.”
A search warrant recovered a 9mm “ghost gun” – a Glock frame pistol without a serial number – and a MM-1556 rifle.
Both weapons remain in the custody of the El Paso County sheriff’s office. Neither were returned to the defendant.
Mr Aldrich formally entered a not guilty plea on 27 January 2022, triggering a “countdown clock” to begin a criminal trial within six months of that date, according to Mr Allen.
An initial jury trial date was set for 31 May 2022, but prosecutors were not able to subpoena the victims in the case, and the court granted a continuance to July.
But by then, the prosecution still could not subpoena the victims. Attorneys for Mr Aldrich objected and asked to dismiss the case.
Defence attorneys reportedly indicated that there was “no likelihood these people are going to be showing up” and witnesses “have, basically, been avoiding everyone,” according to documents shared by Mr Allen.
On 11 August, the case was dismissed and records were sealed.
The case has raised questions over whether the state’s so-called “red flag” law was applicable, which would have allowed a judge to issue an “extreme risk protection order” if a petitioner – including family members as well as law enforcement agencies – can prove that a person “poses a significant risk of causing personal injury to self or others by having in his or her custody or control a firearm or by purchasing, possessing or receiving a firearm.”
Mr Allen said Mr Aldrich was barred from purchasing weapons until the 2021 case was dismissed because a mandatory – but temporary – extreme risk protection order was in place. But he noted that it is unlikely that Mr Aldrich’s family would have petitioned a judge to issue a more permanent order that would have blocked him from obtaining other firearms, Mr Allen said.
“Those people would also have to testify in that case as well,” he said.
Asked why prosecutors did not pursue charges against Mr Aldrich for possession of a ghost gun, Mr Allen said “that is a problem we have to figure out a way to solve legislatively.”
“There’s got to be a way to regulate that better,” he said. “But you also have to be cognisant of people’s Second Amendment rights.”
A preliminary hearing for Mr Aldrich’s charges in the Club Q shooting is scheduled for 22 February 2023.
“The only way it would have prevented the tragedy is if the witnesses were actually present at trial, testified, and somebody was convicted … and that person was in custody for an extended period of time,” Mr Allen said. “Absent that, I don’t see anything about that prior event that would have prevented the Club Q shooting, unfortunately.”
