New images show Colorado gay club shooter sneaking inside with his gun trends now
Chilling surveillance photos showed the Colorado gay club shooter moments before he killed five people and injured 25.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, was seen in photos released in unsealed documents leaving his car in the Club Q parking lot with an AR-15 assault rifle at 11.55pm on November 19.
An El Paso County judge also released the documents of Aldrich's 2021 bomb threat charges that were dropped after their family refused to cooperate.
The black and white photos showed Aldrich with the gun up as they prepared to enter the club. Aldrich immediately shot two people when he entered.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, was spotted in newly released surveillance footage moments before he opened fire at Club Q in Colorado Springs. Aldrich, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, was seen stepping out of his car with his AR-15 assault rifle at 11.55pm
Aldrich was spotted entering the bar with his assault rifle up. He shot two people upon opening
In his booking photo, Aldrich appeared battered, with face and neck bruises apparently sustained when beaten by the bar's patrons
Photographs of victims of a mass shooting at a nearby gay nightclub are on display at a memorial on November 22, 2022, in Colorado Springs
Aldrich was arrested in June 2021 on allegations of making a bomb threat that led to the evacuation of about 10 homes.
The 22-year-old threatened to harm family members and boasted of having bomb-making materials, ammunition and multiple weapons, according to law enforcement documents.
El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen spoke hours after a judge unsealed the case, which indicated that the suspect threatened to kill relatives and to become the 'next mass killer' more than a year before the nightclub attack.
Aldrich's statements in the case, which was dropped over the summer, have raised questions about why authorities did not seek to seize the suspect's guns under Colorado's 'red flag' law.
Judge Robin Chittum said the 'profound' public interest in the case outweighed Aldrich's privacy rights. The judge added that scrutiny of judicial cases is 'foundational to our system of government.'
'The only way for that scrutiny to occur is for this to be unsealed,' she said.
Aldrich was booked into jail on suspicion of felony menacing and kidnapping. The case was later dropped, and officials have refused to speak about it, citing a state law that calls for dismissed cases to be sealed.
Pictured: Investigators at the scene of the Club Q nightclub, which was hosting a drag show when they said Aldrich walked in and opened fire. The club's owners say Aldrich arrived with 'tremendous firepower' - an AR-15 rifle, six magazines of ammo and a handgun
An El Paso County judge released the documents on Thursday and announced Aldrich's 2021 bomb threat charges were also dropped after their family
