Colorado Springs Club Q killer charged with federal hate crimes. Government not seeking death penalty.
The Colorado shooter who killed five people at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, in 2022 has been charged with federal hate crimes and other federal charges, newly filed court documents show.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 23, has no pleaded guilty in state court to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder, as well as having pleaded no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crimes, in the mass shooting that killed five people at Club Q in November 2022.
Aldrich was sentenced to life in prison and was then transferred from a Colorado prison to the Wyoming State Penitentiary late last year.
Aldrich has now been charged with five federal hate crime enhancements including five counts of murder with a firearm and an additional 69 cases of attempted murder or commission of a violent crime. Aldrich is being represented by a federal public defender in court. The Federal Public Defender's Office said it does not comment on ongoing cases.
In the new federal case, Aldrich has pleaded guilty, but federal court documents show that Aldrich's attorney and the U.S. Attorney's Office have negotiated a plea deal resulting in "multiple concurrent life sentences plus additional consecutive sentences totaling 190 years."
In total, Aldrich faces 74 federal charges, about 50 of which are related to alleged hate crimes.
In the shooting, which appeared to target one of Colorado Springs' most popular LGBTQ bars, five people were killed and 25 others were injured, 17 by gunfire. Aldrich was apprehended by people at the club and then arrested on scene by responding officers.
The five people who died were identified as Daniel Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38; and Raymond Green Vance, 22.
RELATED: One year later, Club Q victims are still fighting for transparency over funds donated in their names
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado said Aldrich used "computers, internet service providers, web-based retail platforms, web-based financial payment process platforms, and interstate commercial mail carriers, to acquire firearm components, ammunition, and tactical gear" to carry out the attack.
A federal criminal information sheet states that a conviction on the murder charges carries "any term of years or life imprisonment or death," but a plea agreement negotiated between the U.S. Attorney's Office and Federal Public Defender's Office states, "the United States is not seeking the death penalty in this case."
A formal federal criminal complaint has not yet been filed, according to the publicly available court documents.
The owners of Club Q say they will reopen in a new location as "The Q" sometime in January or February.
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