Suspected Gunman in Club Q Shooting to Appear in Court
CNN) -- The 22-year-old accused of carrying out a mass shooting inside an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, over the weekend is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for the first time since the attack that left five dead and more than a dozen injured.Anderson Lee Aldrich is expected to attend the initial court hearing via video conference from the El Paso County Jail.The hearing will include "the advisement of the arrest charges as well as advisement of bond conditions," according to Colorado's Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen.Aldrich is set to be held without bond, Allen added.Preliminary charges include five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of a bias-motivated crime -- elsewhere called a hate crime -- causing bodily injury, per El Paso County Court's online docket.Formal charges can be expected within about 10 days, Allen said.Ahead of the hearing, attorneys for Aldrich submitted a court filing stating the suspect identifies as non-binary."They use they-them pronouns, and for the purposes of all formal filings, will be addressed as Mx.
Aldrich," the court document noted.The public defender's office is representing Aldrich and has declined all requests for comment, citing office policy.As the investigation and legal process proceed, survivors and loved ones of those killed are processing the feelings of shock and grief after a fun night of drag performances and dancing turned violent at Club Q, a venue known as a safe space for the LGBTQ community.The US has recorded more than 600 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which like CNN defines such incidents as those with at least four slain or injured, not including the shooter.Daniel Aston,.
