Colorado Springs Club Q shooter ran neo-Nazi website, used gay slurs: police

The suspect in last year’s shooting at a gay club in Colorado Springs, Colo., operated a neo-Nazi website and used gay and racial slurs online, cops testified Wednesday.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, faces hate crime charges in connection with the Nov. 19 shooting at Club Q that left five people dead and more than a dozen others wounded.

Aldrich’s posts included a rifle scope trained on a Pride parade and a shooting training video, according to investigators. The video glorified mass shootings, including the 2019 attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The suspect also used gay and racial slurs while playing video games, police said.

While Aldrich faces more than 300 criminal counts in connection with the massacre, this week’s three-day preliminary hearing focuses solely on the potential hate crime charges.

Aldrich visited the club at least six times prior to the shooting, according to investigators. Surveillance video showed him entering and leaving the establishment on the night of the shooting before returning with a firearm.

Though Aldrich identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, prosecutors argued Wednesday that does not grant him immunity from hate crime charges. Aldrich’s mother, who is also nonbinary, forced the suspect to go to LGBTQ clubs, one witness testified.

The court also heard Wednesday about the heroic efforts of two men who stopped the massacre before it could get worse. Navy information systems technician Thomas James grabbed the red-hot barrel of Aldrich’s rifle as bullets flew, burning his hand but stopping the gunfire as he struggled with the shooter.

James didn’t attend Wednesday’s hearing, but days after the attack he released a statement saying he “simply wanted to save the family that I found.”

As he struggled with Aldrich, Army veteran Richard Fierro ran over to grab the rifle and throw it aside. The two men subdued Aldrich along with other club-goers until police arrived.

With News Wire Services