Jan 16, 2024 - Politics & Policy

Club Q shooter charged with federal hate crimes

Rebecca Falconer

Photos of the shooting victims are displayed at a makeshift memorial outside of Club Q on November 22, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A gunman opened fire inside the LGBTQ+ club on November 19th, killing 5 and injuring 25 others before being tackled and disarmed by a club patron. — Photos of the shooting victims are displayed at a makeshift memorial outside of Club Q in November 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Photo: Chet Strange/Getty Images

The Colorado shooter who killed five people at LGBTQ nightclub Club Q in 2022 intends to plead guilty to 74 new federal hate crimes and firearms charges, according to court filings made public Tuesday.

The big picture: The agreement would mean that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty for Anderson Lee Aldrich, 23, formerly of Colorado Springs, who would serve "multiple concurrent life sentences plus additional consecutive sentences totaling 190 years imprisonment," per the filings that the U.S. District Court in the District of Colorado unsealed.

Zoom in: Aldrich was sentenced to life in prison last year after pleading guilty in state court to the five murders and was given an additional 2,208 years for attempted murder for the mass shooting, which ended when patrons subdued the shooter.

The Department of Justice in a statement on Tuesday announcing the new charges and proposed plea agreement said it's alleged the "willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated" attack occurred "because of the actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity of any person."
The date of the guilty plea had yet to be set as of Tuesday evening, per the DOJ.

Go deeper: Club Q in Colorado Springs will change its location and name after deadly 2022 shooting

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Club Q shooter charged with federal hate crimes

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