Club Q
Anderson Aldrich’s guilty plea is part of a deal with federal prosecutors that may help the shooter avoid the death penalty, according to local news reports.
The announcement comes nearly a year after a gunman at the Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub killed five people and wounded several others.
Five people, Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh and Derrick Rump, were killed at the gay bar in November 2022.
On the first day of a three-day trial to determine if hate crime charges are warranted, the accused shooter cried while being led out of court for a lunch break.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
The LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs will honor the five who were killed in the mass shooting in November when it reopens.
"The simple truth is this: We just want to live. Is that so much to ask?" Pulse survivor Brandon Wolf asked legislators.
The hearing comes as hateful acts and rhetoric continue across the country.
The suspect threatened to kill their grandparents and to become the “next mass killer” more than a year before the deadly Colorado shooting, officials said.
Authorities say the person who would later kill five at a Colorado gay nightclub was on the FBI’s radar before being arrested for threatening to kill family members.
"This is kinda deja vu, reliving it all over again,” said Tiara Latrice Kelley, who performed at Orlando's Pulse nightclub before the 2016 mass shooting there.