Suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich pleads guilty to murder of five people in gay nightclub

The suspect in a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs has pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 23, entered a guilty plea on Monday, and at the same time pleaded no contest to two bias-motivated crime charges over the November 2022 shooting at Club Q, which killed five people and injured 25.

“I intentionally and after deliberation caused the death of each victim,” Aldrich told Judge Michael McHenry.

People in courtroom wiped away tears as the judge explained the charges and read out the names of the victims.

Aldrich, who faces life behind bars, previously claimed through lawyers to identify as non-binary and requested they/them pronouns be used – though the shooter’s family and legal team have continued to use he/him pronouns. Former friends have suggested the request was “trolling” of the LGBT+ community and an attempt to “get out of” hate crime charges.

Xavier Kraus, who previously lived next door to the suspect, told NBC News in December that Aldrich was a “very angry” gun owner who had made racist and homophobic statements, expressing hatred for “f****ts”.

The US Justice Department is considering pursuing federal hate crime charges, a senior law enforcement official familiar with the matter told Associated Press.

The attack at Club Q came over a year after Aldrich had been arrested for threatening their grandparents and vowing to become “the next mass killer.” But charges were ultimately dropped in that case after Aldrich’s mother and grandparents, the victims in the case, refused to cooperate with prosecutors.

Aldrich was released from jail then and authorities kept two guns — a ghost gun pistol and an MM15 rifle — seized in the arrest. But there was nothing to stop Aldrich from legally purchasing more firearms, raising questions immediately after the shooting about whether authorities should have sought a red flag order to prevent such purchases.

Additional reporting by Associated Press