The shooter who killed five people and endangered the lives of more than 40 others at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs plans to plead guilty to new federal charges of hate crimes and firearms violations under a deal that would allow the defendants to avoid the death penalty, according to court documents which was announced on Tuesday.
Anderson Aldrich, 23, made a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to 50 hate crime charges and 24 firearms violations, documents show.
Aldrich would get several life sentences in addition to the 190-year sentence under the proposed deal, which would require a judge’s approval.
The Jan. 9 plea deal was unsealed by the court after Aldrich pleaded not guilty in court during an initial appearance on Tuesday evening.
The firearms charge carries the maximum penalty of death, according to the agreement.
Aldrich was sentenced to life in prison last June after pleading guilty to murder and 46 counts of attempted murder — one for each person at Club Q during the November 19, 2022 attack.
News of the new charges and planned deal comes just days after federal prosecutors revealed they will seek the death penalty in another hate crime case — against a white supremacist who killed 10 black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
The decision does not change Attorney General Merrick Garland’s moratorium on ending the federal death penalty, but opens a new chapter in the long and complicated history of capital punishment in the US
Ashtin Gamblin, who was shot nine times and seriously injured at Club Q, was in court for Tuesday’s hearing.
Aldrich struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to 50 hate crime charges and 24 firearms violations, documents show. AP
He called the shooting a hate crime and said that Aldrich should be labeled as someone who did it.
Gamblin also said he told federal prosecutors Aldrich should face the death penalty for what they did, although that sentence was never carried out.
He said he wanted Aldrich to “sit with the thought of not knowing when” they would die or that they could die at “any day or any time.”
Aldrich, who is non-binary and uses the pronouns they/them, also pleaded no contest to hate crime charges under a plea deal.
The plea was an admission that there was a good chance Aldrich would be convicted of the crime without pleading guilty.
The appeal carries the same weight as a conviction.
For Tuesday’s hearing, Aldrich appeared via video from an undisclosed location and was represented by David Kraut with the federal public defender’s office.
Phone and email messages left with Kraut’s office were not immediately returned.
Jeff Aston, whose son Daniel Aston was shot and killed in the attack, listened from afar.
This was a hateful, stupid, despicable and cowardly act,” Aston said, adding that he wanted to see Aldrich suffer as much as the victims and their families.
After the shooting, Daniel Aston’s parents said they found Club Q a safe place to be a trans man and drag queen.
Michael Anderson, who was bartending at Club Q when the shooting erupted, said the federal charges will serve as a deterrent by “sending a message to people who want to commit violent acts against this community, and let them know that this is not something to be swept away or ignored.”
“No matter how much justice is done statewide or federally, it cannot undo the bullets fired,” he said.
At the time of Aldrich’s sentencing in state court, Colorado Springs-area District Attorney Michael Allen said the possibility of receiving the death penalty in the federal system was “a big part of what motivated the defendant” to plead guilty to the state charges.
Aldrich declined to speak at the sentencing hearing in state court, and did not say why they hung out at the club, then left and returned dressed in body armor.
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Aldrich started firing an AR-15 style rifle as soon as they re-entered.
Prosecutors said Aldrich had visited the club at least six times before that night and Aldrich’s mother had forced them to leave.
In a series of phone calls from prison, Aldrich told The Associated Press that they were using “a lot of drugs” and were abusing steroids at the time of the attack.
When asked if the attack was hate-motivated, Aldrich said that was “totally off base.”
The district attorney called the statement self-serving and described the allegations as ringing hollow.
He said Aldrich’s claim of being non-binary was part of an effort to avoid hate crime charges, saying there was no evidence Aldrich identified as non-binary before the shooting.
During a hearing in the state case in February, prosecutors said Aldrich ran a website that posted “white supremacist neo-Nazi” shooting practice videos.
A police detective also testified that an online gaming friend said Aldrich expressed hatred toward police, LBGTQ+ people and minorities, and used racist and homophobic slurs.
One person said that Aldrich posted a message online with a picture of a rifle trained on a gay pride parade.
The attack shattered the sense of security at Club Q, which serves as a haven for the city’s LGBTQ+ community.
The shooting was stopped by a Navy officer who grabbed the barrel of the suspect’s rifle, burning his hand, and an Army veteran helped subdue and beat Aldrich until police arrived, authorities said.
The 2022 attack comes more than a year after Aldrich was arrested for threatening their grandparents and vowing to be “the next mass murderer” while stockpiling weapons, body armor and bomb-making materials.
The charges were eventually dismissed after Aldrich’s mother and grandparents refused to cooperate with prosecutors.
Last year Aldrich was transferred to Wyoming State Prison because of security concerns about the high-profile case, according to Alondra Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Associated Press writers Jesse Bedayn contributed from Denver and Matthew Brown contributed from Billings, Montana.
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