Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ Club Mass Killer Gets Life in Prison

By COLLEEN SLEVIN and JESSE BEDAYN Associated Press

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The person who killed five people and pleaded guilty in a 2022 mass shooting at a LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs has been sentenced to life in prison.

Authorities said Anderson Lee Aldrich walked into Club Q just before midnight on Nov. 19 and began indiscriminately firing an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.

The attack came a year after Aldrich, who claims to be non-binary and uses they and them pronouns, had been arrested for threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer.”

Charges were ultimately dropped in that case. Victims in last year's attack called Aldrich a “monster” who hunted down LGBTQ+ patrons.

Aldrich pleaded guilty during a Monday court hearing.