The bruised and battered face of the man suspected of shooting up a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub was revealed to the public Wednesday as the Colorado Springs Police Department released his mugshot. The suspect, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, was beaten and pistol-whipped by patrons of Club Q after he stormed in late Saturday night and started firing, killing five and injuring eighteen.
After most of the mainstream media, President Biden and others blamed the attack on LGBTQ hate even though no motive was known, the suspect turned out to be non-binary, uses “they/them” pronouns, and is being addressed as “Mx. Anderson Aldrich.”
He made his first court appearance Wednesday, and could barely sit up:
The New York Times reported that Aldrich “sat slumped” and was “bruised, swollen and uttering slurred responses to a judge’s brief questions.” He appeared via video:
The suspect… appeared on video from jail and was ordered held without bond. The accused shooter, who is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder and hate crimes, is expected to be formally charged at a hearing on Dec. 6.
District Attorney Michael J. Allen said afterward at a news conference that the suspect’s gender identity would not determine whether he files hate-crimes charges. “I’m looking at evidence,” he said. “That’s what we look at when we make filing decisions.”
The NY Post reports that the suspect struggled to even speak:
“Anderson Aldrich, did you watch the video concerning your constitutional rights in this case?” the judge asked.
“Yes,” Aldrich replied in a whisper after a lengthy pause.
Do you have any questions about those rights?” the judge said.
Aldrich didn’t respond for several seconds before replying, “No.”
Aldrich’s shooting was stopped by decorated army veteran Richard Fierro, who beat the suspect while a trans woman in heels stomped him. Fierro described his ordeal:
“I just know I got into mode, and I needed to save my family — and my family was at that time everybody in that room,” he said in a news conference outside his home on Monday.
“That’s what I was trained to do. I saw him and I went and got him… I tried to save people and it didn’t work out for five. There’s five people who aren’t home right now.”
“I didn’t ask for this,” he said, adding he was there to watch his daughter’s junior prom date perform. “I’m not a hero, I’m just some dude,” he said.
He also discussed the devastating night on CNN:
"I did what I had to do."
Richard M. Fierro, one of the men who tackled the gunman in the Colorado Springs Club Q shooting, said it wasn’t about being the hero — it was all about protecting his family. https://t.co/SXoUGH4q4Y pic.twitter.com/fxOFXwEKhW
— CNN (@CNN) November 22, 2022
More details are coming out about the shooter’s strange past. As Nick Arama reported:
His [Aldrich’s] original name was Nicholas Brink. His father is Aaron Brink, a former ex-con MMA fighter and meth user, pornstar, and actor on some reality TV shows like “Intervention” and “Divorce Court.”
Aaron Brink hadn’t seen his son in years. Aldrich’s mother is also, not surprisingly, troubled and has current arrest warrants out for her and previous arrests including for arson in 2012.
It’s a sad, awful story, made worse by the blame and speculation being thrown around while the facts—most importantly the motive—are still not fully known.
Story cited here.
