• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman’s gay relationship ‘The Last of Us’ (Ep 3) will be 2023’s memorable TV moment
  • Many self-identified heterosexuals report feeling attracted toward individuals of the same sex, study finds
  • Taylor Lautner thought Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s speech was planned

LGBTQ club shooting suspect in US charged with 305 counts

Towleroad December 7, 2022 Leave a Comment

Published by
AFP
658872 origin 1
Raymond Green Vance was among the five people who were killed when a gunman attacked an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs

Los Angeles (AFP) – The suspect in a mass shooting that left five people dead at an LGBTQ club in the US state of Colorado was charged Tuesday with 305 criminal counts, including murder.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, has been in custody since the rampage last month in Club Q in Colorado Springs that also left at least 18 people wounded.

The suspect, who court-appointed lawyers have said identifies as non-binary, appeared handcuffed and shackled in court on Tuesday to face the litany of charges.

They include 10 counts of first-degree murder — two for each fatality, one of murder with intent, and one of murder with extreme indifference. Both charges carry a maximum life sentence without the possibility of parole.

It is not uncommon in the United States for prosecutors to levy multiple charges for the same crime. 

So-called “charge stacking” increases the likelihood of conviction in cases where a jury finds the circumstances do not exactly fit one of the charges, and would therefore find the defendant not guilty.

Aldrich, who did not speak during Tuesday’s appearance, also faces 86 counts of attempted first-degree murder, as well as dozens of bias-motivated crimes — the name for hate crimes in Colorado — and dozens more of assault.

District Attorney Michael Allen told reporters that the sheer number of charges is an indicator of how seriously authorities are taking the attack.

“Obviously when you file 305 counts in a case, that tells the public, this community, this state and this nation that we are taking this case as seriously as we possibly can and we are going to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law,” Allen said.

The suspect, who is bearded and heavy-set, wore jail-issue clothes in court and appeared to have recovered from injuries apparently sustained when patrons of Club Q subdued him to end the shooting. 

Military veteran Richard Fierro, who was visiting the club with his wife, told reporters he had snatched the attacker’s pistol and used it as a cudgel to hit him. 

The November 20 mass shooting was the latest in America’s seemingly endless gun violence crisis and shattered the peace of Colorado Springs’ LGBTQ community, as customers and staff at the well-known club were gunned down on a night of revelry.

Matthew Haynes, one of the owners of Club Q, said the fact that hate crime charges had been laid demonstrated that it was a targeted attack.

“The tragedy at Club Q shows that words matter and that words have real-world consequences,” Haynes said, according to the Denver Post. 

“We continue to call out those who spread disgusting rhetoric and encourage violence against the LGBTQ community, to end this behavior immediately before more people get hurt.”

Reporting since the attack has revealed a chaotic life for the alleged attacker, with a childhood marked by instability, and parents who suffered from substance abuse problems.

A two-day preliminary hearing was set for February 22.  

A full jury trial may not happen until some time in 2024, the district attorney said.

Topics: Aaon, Anti-LGBTQ, Violence More Posts About: hate crime, Mass Shooting, Matthew Haynes, Murder, The Denver Post

Related Posts
  • Tyre Nichols death: Memphis braces for protests when police video is released
  • Soccer-Three arrested for alleged homophobic chanting at Liverpool-Chelsea game
  • Republican who allegedly lied about his background responds to NY Times bombshell by blaming ‘the left’
  • Many self-identified heterosexuals report feeling attracted toward individuals of the same sex, study finds

    Many self-identified heterosexuals report feeling attracted toward individuals of the same sex, study finds

    Published by PsyPost Sexuality is commonly thought to be a spectrum. If that is true, is anyone fully straight? Does that blur the label of what heterosexual means? A study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior …Read More »
  • Taylor Lautner thought Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s speech was planned

    Taylor Lautner thought Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s speech was planned

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Taylor Lautner thought it was part of a planned “skit” when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) acceptance speech. The ‘Twilight’ actor presented the Best Female Video …Read More »
  • How to Get Tickets to Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour

    How to Get Tickets to Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour

    Published by PopCrush Wondering how to get tickets to Beyoncé‘s Renaissance World Tour? We’ve got you covered. Queen Bey will hit the road in May to bring her next iconic tour to the BeyHive. Beyoncé announced …Read More »
  • U.S. African American studies does not include material targeted by Florida governor

    U.S. African American studies does not include material targeted by Florida governor

    Published by Reuters By Brad Brooks (Reuters) – An African American studies course for U.S. high school students that was released on Wednesday does not include material that Florida’s conservative governor said pushed a liberal agenda, …Read More »
Previous Post: « ‘We Would Have Devoured Each Other’: Kirstie Alley Revealed Love For Longtime Friend John Travolta In Years Before Her Death
Next Post: Historic Greenwich Village gay bar declared a city landmark after decade-long effort »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Why cops kill: A Q&A with policing expert Dr. DeLacy Davis

    Why cops kill: A Q&A with policing expert Dr. DeLacy Davis

  • Rep. George Santos vows to stop lying : ‘I’ve learned my lesson’

    Rep. George Santos vows to stop lying : ‘I’ve learned my lesson’

  • George Santos campaign made suspicious payments to Miami Beach parking lot

    George Santos campaign made suspicious payments to Miami Beach parking lot

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y'know

  • Dennis Rodman On If He’d Ever Get Back With Ex-Girlfriends: “I Tried Madonna, I Tried Carmen Electra…”

    Dennis Rodman On If He’d Ever Get Back With Ex-Girlfriends: “I Tried Madonna, I Tried Carmen Electra…”

  • James Gunn Seemingly Confirms The DCU Will Finally Have Gay Superheroes

    James Gunn Seemingly Confirms The DCU Will Finally Have Gay Superheroes

  • Vanilla Ice Admits He Rejected Madonna’s Proposal Before They Split: ‘I Thought The Guy Was Supposed To Do That’

    Vanilla Ice Admits He Rejected Madonna’s Proposal Before They Split: ‘I Thought The Guy Was Supposed To Do That’

RSS Partner Links

  • Hold On a Minute
  • Jordan Klepper Finds MAGAts Who Are Still Crazy
  • Emma Stone & Dave McCary Make Rare Appearance Together at Knicks Game in NYC
  • Princess Kate: The early years can be the ‘root cause of huge societal challenges’
  • “Stop trying to make Carrie Bradshaw & Aiden Shaw into a thing!” links
  • Iranian Couple Sentenced To 10 Years For Dancing After Video Goes Viral
  • Buy Me, Buy Me. Say That You'll Buy Me.

Most Recent

  • Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman’s gay relationship ‘The Last of Us’ (Ep 3) will be  2023’s memorable TV moment

    Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman’s gay relationship ‘The Last of Us’ (Ep 3) will be 2023’s memorable TV moment

  • Many self-identified heterosexuals report feeling attracted toward individuals of the same sex, study finds

    Many self-identified heterosexuals report feeling attracted toward individuals of the same sex, study finds

  • Taylor Lautner thought Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s speech was planned

    Taylor Lautner thought Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s speech was planned

  • How to Get Tickets to Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour

    How to Get Tickets to Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour

  • U.S. African American studies does not include material targeted by Florida governor

    U.S. African American studies does not include material targeted by Florida governor

  • ‘Sister Wives’ Alum Gwendlyn Brown Claims She Was ‘Disappointed’ TLC Tried To ‘Exploit’ Her Bisexuality

    ‘Sister Wives’ Alum Gwendlyn Brown Claims She Was ‘Disappointed’ TLC Tried To ‘Exploit’ Her Bisexuality

  • Trump outlines plan to attack trans rights if re-elected, vows to ‘protect children from left-wing gender insanity’

    Trump outlines plan to attack trans rights if re-elected, vows to ‘protect children from left-wing gender insanity’

  • Finn Wolfhard ‘really proud’ of Noah Schnapp for coming out as gay

    Finn Wolfhard ‘really proud’ of Noah Schnapp for coming out as gay

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

×