The suspect accused of shooting five and injuring 19 people at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last month was charged with 305 criminal counts, including hate crimes and murder.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, who says they identify as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, faces life in prison without the chance for parole if convicted, according to CNN.
In a news conference after announcing the charges, Colorado’s Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen said, “When you file 305 counts in a case, that tells the public, this community, this state, and this nation that we are taking this case as serious as we possibly can. [...] Meaning that we are going to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.”
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Aldrich arrived at Club Q on Nov. 19 at 11:56 PM and opened fire, killing five people and injuring at least 19 others. They used an AR-style rifle and handgun and wore a military-style flak jacket during the shooting. They were eventually subdued by patrons and beaten into submission.
Matthew Hanes, one of the club’s owners, told The New York Times that Aldrich came in with “tremendous firepower.”
It was Club Q patron Richard Fierro who took Aldrich down that infamous night—saving dozens of lives.
Fierro, a 15-year Army veteran, told The New York Times he “just went into combat mode.”
According to reports, Fierro, 45, the Mexican-American co-owner of a popular local brewery, was at the club with his wife, daughter, and daughter’s boyfriend watching a drag show when he saw the gunfire.
“I don’t know exactly what I did, I just went into combat mode,” Fierro said. “I just know I have to kill this guy before he kills us.”
Aldrich was arrested in June 2021 in connection with a bomb threat that led to the evacuation of 10 homes, according to CNN.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Allen had said the hate crimes charges send a vital message to the community that crimes based on bias and hatred will not be condoned. He added that the charges included “many counts of bias-motivated crimes.”
Aldrich’s attorney has said that he was troubled about his client’s ability to get a fair trial given the exposure of the case, the Times reports, but Judge Michael McHenry ordered the arrest warrant affidavit to be unsealed, regardless.