This appears to be a targeted attack. Anderson Lee Aldrich, the young American accused of being the perpetrator of the shooting that left 5 dead and 25 injured at a gay club in Colorado Springs this weekend, faces charges of murder and hate crimes , according to the El Paso County Court Record. His formal indictment should be announced later and the charges could still be moved, the prosecutor said.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, arrived at Club Q, an LGBTQ bar in this very conservative town an hour south of Denver where a drag show was taking place, shortly before midnight on Saturday. Armed with a pistol and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, he immediately opened fire. According to the authorities, he was subdued after less than two minutes by two customers, including a man who “ran over” him and managed to disarm and immobilize him, a “heroic” act which prevented a balance sheet that could have been much heavier.
Threats to his mother with a pipe bomb
Anderson Lee Aldrich was known to authorities. In June 2021, he threatened his mother with an improvised explosive device and was arrested after taking refuge. For some reason authorities have not clarified, the charges were eventually dropped. According to Gazette of Colorado Springs, her paternal grandfather is a former ultra-conservative California local elected official, Randy Voepel, who had defended the assault on the Capitol as an act of resistance against “tyranny”.
A family member speaking on condition of anonymity told 20 Minutes that Aldrich was living with his grandparents, who had refused to testify against him. In a post on a Mormon Church women’s Facebook group, his mother asked for contact information for “a post-traumatic stress therapist” for her son.