Club Q shooter sentenced to life in prison for killing 5 at LGBTQ+ nightclub
The 23-year-old who killed five people at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, has been sentenced to life in prison.
Content warning: This story includes topics that could make some readers feel uncomfortable and/or upset. Anderson Lee Aldrich pleaded guilty on 26 June to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder in a courtroom packed out with victims and their family members.
Aldrich also pleaded no contest to two hate crimes, one of which was a felony and the other a misdemeanour. “I intentionally and after deliberation caused the death of each victim,” they told judge Michael McHenry.
Those in the courtroom became emotional as the judge read out the names of the victims and explained the charges in detail. “You are targeting a group of people for their simple existence,” said McHenry. “Like too many other people in our culture, you chose to find a power that day behind the trigger of a gun, your actions reflect the deepest malice of the human heart and malice is almost always born of ignorance and fear.” READ MORE: Club Q: LGBTQ+ venue in Colorado Springs to reopen after mass shooting Aldrich was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
