Club Q mass shooter to plead guilty to federal hate crimes and avoid death penalty
Published Date: 1/17/2024
Source: axios.com

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