Upon reaching an agreement with the prosecutors to avoid a lengthy trial, Anderson Lee Aldrich pleaded guilty to five first-degree murder counts and 46 attempted murder counts in Colorado state court. A 23-year-old man got life imprisonment in US' Colorado without the possibility of getting a parole after he pleaded guilty on Monday to the accusations of him killing five people in a mass shooting at a LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs in 2022. He also pleaded no contest to two bias-motivated crimes, reported news agency Reuters.
Aldrich opened fire at an LGBTQ nightclub named Club Q on November 19, 2022 while being armed with a rifle and handgun. The prisoner was also donning a body armor back then. Following the shooting, five people lost their lives and nearly two dozen got injured before some people stopped Aldrich. He then got charged with 323 criminal counts.
During the hearing, family members of the victims lashed out at Aldrich in the court. Several survivors from that night shared their experience.
Kassandra Fierro, whose boyfriend, Raymond Green Vance, was among the dead, said, "I will never get the chance to marry the love of my life. I will never get to start a family with Raymond. I will never get to see, hear or feel Raymond ever again."
Others emphasised that Club Q had long been a 'safe space' for LGBTQ+, however, now their tight-knit community is shattered.
Aldrich, who identified himself as nonbinary in the court refused to speak during the hearing. However, 'their' defense lawyer, Joseph Archambault, said Aldrich wanted the court to know that "they are deeply remorseful."
In accordance with the plea deal, Justice Michael McHenry gave the verdict as per which Aldrich was charged with five consecutive life sentences. Moreover, he also received 2,200 years of additional prison time for the attempted murder counts. Justice McHenry said, "Your actions reflect the deepest malice of the human heart and malice is almost always born of ignorance and fear."
The state of Colorado no longer has a death-penalty statute but, Aldrich could face a death sentence in federal court if prosecutors bring charges under the U.S. code, which still has capital punishment on its books for certain crimes, reported Reuters.
The prisoner got formally charged on December 6 but, did not enter a plea at that time. The others who were involved in the shooting were identified as Daniel Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Derrick Rump, 38; Ashley Paugh, 34; and Vance, 22.
Aldrich had a past with law enforcement. A press release from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office stated that before being arrested in June 2021, his mother had reported that he had threatened to detonate a bomb and harm her with multiple weapons. However, his mother declined to testify for the prosecution, and the case was dismissed.