A judge sentenced Anderson Lee Aldrich, the man who opened fire at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, to 55 life sentences in a Tuesday ruling.
Aldrich pleaded guilty to 74 federal hate crime and gun charges relating to the shooting at Club Q that left five people dead and 19 injured in 2022. He is currently serving five consecutive life sentences and 2,212 more years without the possibility of parole at the Wyoming State Penitentiary after pleading guilty to state charges in 2023, CNN reported.
Aldrich entered Club Q on the night of Nov. 19, 2022, and opened fire into a crowd until club patrons forced the AR-15 style firearm out of his hands. Some patrons hid or played dead as the suspect attempted to shoot everyone in sight, according to CNN.
U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney offered Aldrich no possibility of parole in Tuesday’s sentencing, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
“You will never get out of prison,” the judge told him, according to AP.
A court filing from November 2022 found that Aldrich identifies as “non-binary” and uses “they/them” pronouns.
“Anderson Aldrich is nonbinary,” a footnote to the filing stated. “They use they/them pronouns, and for the purposes of all formal filings, will be addressed as Mx. Aldrich.”
In new court filing, public defenders for the suspect in the mass shooting at a Colorado gay club that left 5 people dead say that their client is non-binary and that “they use they/them pronouns.” The lawyers refer to their client as Mx. Anderson Aldrich. pic.twitter.com/dPaUpiFXKN
— Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs (@NickAtNews) November 23, 2022
The Justice Department called the shooting a “bias-motivated, premeditated, mass-casualty attack” in a sentencing statement before Tuesday’s ruling, CNN reported. (RELATED: ‘They Needed A Boogeyman’: NBC Reporter Blames ‘QAnon Narrative’ For Colorado Springs Shooting)
Defense attorney David Kraut pointed to trauma in childhood, drugs, a mother with alleged abusive tendencies, online extremism and the availability of guns as reasons why Aldrich carried out the shooting, according to AP. Aldrich reportedly confessed to evidence of hatred as part of his plea agreement on Tuesday.
Aldrich did not admit to being motivated by hate in phone call interviews with the AP last year, calling the allegations “completely off base.”
Prosecutor Alison Connaughty said Aldrich created two websites intended for posting hate-related content, according to the AP. They reportedly further discovered a target in his house with a rainbow ring with bullets in it, according to Connaughty. Aldrich was also sharing records of 911 calls from the 2016 shooting inside Pulse nightclub, she added, the outlet reported.
Aldrich spent more than $9,000 on weapons from at least 56 vendors between September 2020 and Nov. 19, 2022, according to AP.
