Club Q shooter to be sentenced on federal charges for hate crimes and firearm violations
CNN
The shooter who opened fire in a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub, killing five people and injuring 19, is set to be sentenced for federal hate crime charges and firearm violations Tuesday.
The shooter who opened fire in a Colorado LGBTQ+ nightclub in 2022, killing five people and injuring 19, is set to be sentenced for federal hate crime charges and firearm violations Tuesday. In January, Anderson Lee Aldrich agreed to plead guilty to 74 federal hate crime charges and gun charges in connection with the shooting. Prosecutors chose not to pursue the death penalty in the case. In a news release announcing the plea agreement, the US Department of Justice called the attack “willful, deliberate” and “malicious,” alleging it was committed “because of the actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity of any person.” Aldrich, 24, pleaded guilty in 2023 to state charges in the shooting and is already serving five consecutive life terms and an additional 2,212 years without the possibility of parole at the Wyoming State Penitentiary. “The defendant’s brazen and calculated attacks on the employees and patrons of Club Q, and the impact of the defendant’s actions on the greater LGBTQIA+ community, warrant this sentence and meet the goals of sentencing,” said a Justice Department statement submitted to the court. The document describes the shooting as “a bias-motivated, premeditated, mass-casualty attack.” Aldrich had expressed an open hatred for the LGBTQ+ community and had indicated an interest in mass shootings before, according to the document.