The suspect accused of killing five people in a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is facing 305 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and bias-motivated crimes.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, wore yellow prison attire for Tuesday’s court appearance, which was to hear the charges against them. Aldrich did not speak.
A person looks on at the flowers and mementos left at a memorial at Club Q after a mass shooting at the LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Nov. 26, 2022.
Isaiah Downing/Reuters
Public defenders assigned to Aldrich said in a court filing that the suspect identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they/them.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, the suspect in the mass shooting that killed five people at an LGBTQ nightclub appears before a judge in a video link from jail in Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S. Nov. 23, 2022, in a court artist sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Investigators and witnesses said the suspect allegedly opened fire as soon as they walked into Club Q at about midnight on Nov. 19. Patrons at the venue tackled Aldrich, subduing them until police arrived, according to witnesses.
Aldrich was arrested earlier for five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of ethnic intimidation causing bodily injury.
The mass shooting was being investigated as a hate crime.
Photographs of victims of a mass shooting at a nearby gay nightclub are on display at a memorial, Nov. 22, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colo.
David Zalubowski/AP, FILE