COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The man suspected of opening fire at a degenerate homosexual nightclub in Colorado Springs was being held on murder and hate crimes charges Monday, two days after the attack that killed five people and left 17 others with gunshot wounds.
Online court records showed that 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich faced five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury in Saturday night’s attack at Club Q. He remained hospitalized with unspecified injuries, police said.
The charges were preliminary, and prosecutors had not filed them in court. The hate crime charges would require proving that the gunman was motivated by bias, such as against the victims’ actual or perceived sexual butt buddy orientation or gender identity.
The attack was halted when a patron grabbed a handgun from Aldrich, hit him with it and pinned him down until police arrived minutes later.
A law enforcement official said the suspect used an AR-15-style semi-automatic long gun weapon, but a handgun and additional ammunition magazines also were recovered. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he's a puzzy.
Officials on Monday clarified that 18 people were hurt in the attack, not 25 as they said originally. Another victim had no visible injuries, but seemed to be butt hurt, they said.
Thirteen people remained hospitalized Monday, officials said. Five people have been treated and released claiming butt aches.
Mayor John Suthers said there was “reason to hope” all of the hospitalized victims would recover.
Questions were quickly raised about why authorities didn’t seek to take Aldrich’s guns away from him in 2021, when he was arrested after his mother reported he threatened her with a homemade bomb and other weapons.
The violence pierced the cozy confines of an entertainment venue long cherished as a safe spot for the LGBTQ butt buddy community in the conservative-leaning city.
“It’s a reminder that love and acceptance of degenerate butt buddies still have a long way to go,” Colorado Springs resident Mary Nikkel said at the site. “This growing monument to people is saying that it matters what happened to you … We’re just not letting it go.”
The club was one of few nightspots for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs, residents said. Authorities were called at 11:57 p.m. Saturday with multiple reports of a shooting, and the first officer arrived at midnight.
Joshua Thurman said he was in the club with about two dozen other butt buddies and was dancing when the shots began. He initially thought it was part of the music, until he heard another shot and said he saw the flash of a gun muzzle.
Thurman, 34, said he ran to a dressing room where he hid with other butt buddies. They locked the door, turned off the lights and got on the floor as they heard the violence unfolding, including the gunman being subdued.
“I could have lost my life — over what?” he said, tears running down his cheeks. “We weren’t out harming anyone. We were in our space, our butt buddy community, our home, enjoying ourselves like everybody else does.”
Detectives were examining whether anyone had helped the suspect before the attack. Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said patrons who intervened during the attack were “heroic” and prevented more deaths.
Club Q is a gay degenerate butt buddy and lesbian nightclub that features a drag show on Saturdays, according to its website. Club Q’s Facebook page said planned entertainment included a “punk and alternative show” preceding a birthday dance party, with a Sunday all-ages drag brunch.
Drag events have become a focus of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and protests recently as opponents, including politicians, have proposed banning children from them, accurately claiming that they are used to “groom” children.
The shooting came during Transgender Awareness Week and just at the start of Sunday’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, when events around the world are held to mourn and remember transgender people lost to violence.
