The person who shot and killed five people and injured nearly 20 others at a LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2022 pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges and was sentenced to 55 life terms in prison on Tuesday.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 24, is already serving a life sentence in prison after pleading guilty to state charges in the 2022 shooting last year. As part of the plea agreement, Aldrich repeatedly admitted on Tuesday to evidence of hatred.
“The admission that these were hate crimes is important to the government, and it’s important to the community of Club Q,” said prosecutor Alison Connaughty.
By targeting Club Q, Aldrich attacked a place that was much more than a bar, Connaughty added.
“It’s a special gathering place for anyone who needed community and anyone who needed that safe place,” she said. “We met people who said: ‘This venue saved my life and I was able to feel normal again.’”
On 19 November 2022, Aldrich drove to Club Q – one of the few queer bars in Colorado Springs – wearing a tactical vest and armed with a rifle and several rounds of ammunition. Aldrich fired 60 rounds before Richard Fiero, who came to the bar to watch a drag show, managed to pin Aldrich down, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. Once authorities arrived, the once safe space “looked like a war zone” with those escaping physical injury trying to comfort and care for the injured, prosecutors wrote.
Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Daniel Aston, Derrick Rump and Ashley Paugh were killed in the shooting.
Aldrich, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, had visited the club at least six times before that night and that Aldrich’s mother had forced them to go, prosecutors said. Court records describe Aldrich’s homophobia and transphobia as well as Aldrich’s planning of the attack, including spending $9,000 on “weapons-related purchases” in the two years leading up to it. In 2021 Aldrich threatened to bomb their mother’s house, which forced her neighbors to evacuate their homes while crisis negotiators talked Aldrich into surrendering. And while the state has a version of a red flag law on its books there was no indication that it had been triggered before 19 November.
“The defendant committed these crimes because of the actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity of the Club Q patrons and employees,” according to the sentencing statement. “The victims and survivors of the shooting and the other members of the Club Q community viewed each other as chosen family, and Club Q was a safe place for members of that family to gather and celebrate.”
While this federal sentence marks the end to court proceedings in the Club Q shooting case, it does little to make those who were injured and lost loved ones and witnessed the shooting as well as the broader community who live with the reminders of the tragedy, says Christopher Knoepke, a Colorado Spring native and associate professor in the in the University of Colorado’s school of medicine.
“There is this visual reminder for anyone who happens to drive down Academy boulevard that something happened there. It’s a difficult tension” said Knoepke, who is also a part of his university’s firearm injury prevention initiative. “My heart hurts for Colorado Springs, whether [the sentence] was 20 years or a million years, it’s not gonna make them feel better.”
In June 2023 Aldrich was sentenced to life in prison by a Colorado judge after they pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and 46 of attempted murder, one for each person at Club Q. They also pleaded no contest to two hate crimes. During the sentencing hearing victims’ families and those who survived their gunshot wounds addressed Aldrich calling them a hate-filled coward and wishing them a difficult time in prison, the Associated Press reported.
“I nuzzled up with my friend’s body, soaking my clothes in his blood, terrified that this person might come back,” said Ashtin Gamblin, who was shot nine times by Aldrich. “I hope for the worst things possible in prison, and even that won’t be good enough.”
Club Q has yet to reopen to the community but two shooting survivors, Tara Bush who was Deejaying the night of the shooting and Michael Anderson, who was a bartender, have founded a new bar and lounge called the Q in Colorado Springs.
