A suspect in the Club Q nightclub shooting in Colorado Springs that left 5 dead and 25 injured has been charged with 10 criminal counts, including first-degree murder and bias-motivated crimes.
A man entered Colorado Springs’s Club Q late Saturday night and opened fire minutes before National Transgender Remembrance Day on Sunday. He appeared to have acted alone, according to Colorado Springs police, and there was no continued threat to the public. Originally totaled at 18 injured, the number has increased to 25, according to multiple outlets.
A suspect was detained at 12:02 a.m., two minutes after the first police officer arrived on the scene, which was three minutes after being dispatched.
The suspect, Anderson Aldrich, 22, has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder after deliberation and five counts of bias-motivated crimes that caused bodily injury, according to Colorado’s KDVR station.
AT LEAST FIVE KILLED AND 18 INJURED IN SHOOTING AT COLORADO SPRINGS NIGHTCLUB
Aldrich is receiving medical treatment for undisclosed injuries in a local hospital while still in police custody. U.S. District Attorney Michael Allen said Aldrich could be released from the hospital Monday and could appear in court shortly thereafter or Tuesday.
The first victim from the shooting has also been identified by his family, according to the Hill, as Daniel Aston, a 28-year-old transgender man.
Aston was a bartender and performer at Club Q, according to his family. Club Q bartender Michael Anderson said in a Monday interview with CNN This Morning that Club Q is one of only two LGBT clubs in Colorado Springs.
He said he doesn’t know who the shooter was targeting, “but I definitely feel that it was something aimed directly at my community, yet again another time in our country.”
“I don’t know what was wrong with this man. I don’t know why he needed to act in this way, but he obviously had some some feelings towards — I don’t know if it was transgender people, gays, lesbians, I don’t know — Club Q is a safe place for everybody, everybody in the spectrum of the rainbow,” Anderson said.
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Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez previously said there were two firearms in his possession at the time, with police revealing one of the weapons to be a long rifle. The shooter used the long rifle, Vasquez said on CBS Mornings.
While Colorado Springs police could not confirm if Aldrich has had previous legal infractions, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man with the same name and age in June 2021 in connection to a bomb threat.
