By Joseph Ax and Rami Ayyub
A 23-year-old pleaded guilty on Monday to murder and other crimes in a 2022 shooting that killed five people at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs.
Anderson Lee Aldrich faces life in prison without the possibility of parole after reaching an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to five first-degree murder counts and 46 attempted murder counts. Aldrich also pleaded no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crimes.
On Nov. 19, 2022, Aldrich, wearing body armor, opened fire at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub. Apart from those killed, nearly two dozen others were wounded by gunfire or otherwise injured before being stopped by "heroic" patrons. Aldrich, then 22, was charged with 323 criminal counts.
The deal with prosecutors called for Aldrich to be sentenced on Monday immediately following the guilty plea. As the hearing proceeded, family members of those who were killed delivered tearful statements to the court.
"He was kind-hearted, cheerful, sensitive in spirit and a gifted poet," Jeff Aston said of his son, Daniel Aston, who was among those killed. "He had a contagious smile and burning blue eyes ... His mom and I will never be the same."
Colorado no longer has a death-penalty statute. However, Aldrich could face a death sentence in federal court if prosecutors decide to bring charges under the U.S. code, which still has capital punishment on its books for certain crimes.
The shooting at Club Q was reminiscent of a massacre in 2016 when a gunman killed 49 people at the gay Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, before he was shot dead by police.
Aldrich was formally charged last Dec. 6 and did not enter a plea at the time.
Those killed in the shooting were identified as Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Derrick Rump, 38; Ashley Paugh, 34; and Raymond Green Vance, 22.
Aldrich was known to law enforcement, having been arrested in June 2021. Aldrich's mother had reported Aldrich's threatened to detonate a bomb and harm her with multiple weapons, according to a press release from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. Aldrich's mother declined to testify for the prosecution and the case was dismissed.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Rami Ayyub; Additional reporting and writing by Rich McKay; Editing by Grant McCool)
