Club Q shooting suspect pleads guilty, gets life in prison

COLORADO SPRINGS — A 23-year-old suspect pleaded guilty Monday to carrying out a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub last year that killed five people and injured 22 others.

Anderson Aldrich pleaded guilty in the Nov. 19 attack at Club Q during his arraignment in El Paso County District Court on Monday. Aldrich pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder and 46 counts of attempted first-degree murder. Aldrich pleaded no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crime. Aldrich will be sentenced to five consecutive life terms.

The 23-year-old was charged with more than 300 counts in connection with the massacre, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, assault and bias-motivated crimes.

Video surveillance footage played in court showed that Aldrich donned body armor and attacked the club just before midnight, opening fire on patrons and staff with what authorities described as an “AR-15-style rifle.” Aldrich was tackled by two club patrons and disarmed shortly before police arrived.

Those killed were Daniel Davis Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38; Raymond Green Vance, 22.

Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen brought hate-crime charges against Aldrich, and prosecutors argued during a preliminary hearing that Aldrich targeted Club Q at least in part because it was an LGBTQ space. Prosecutors pointed to a photo that Aldrich had shared of a rifle scope aimed at a gay pride parade, and that he was an administrator of a website to which a neo-Nazi, white supremacist propaganda video was posted.

But Aldrich’s public defenders pushed back against those allegations. Aldrich, whose attorneys said identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, had visited Club Q at least six times in the 15 months before the attack as a patron — apparently without incident, the defense attorneys said. In court, they showed a photo of Aldrich smiling in the club in August 2021 with their mother.