Mass shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich appears in two booking photos provided by the Colorado Springs Police Department.
Police in Colorado have released the booking photo of the man they say opened fire inside an LGBTQ+ nightclub over the weekend, killing five people and injuring at least a dozen others.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, has been arrested on murder and hate crime charges. According to police, Aldrich opened fire inside Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, on Saturday night. Police have said they received emergency calls of an active shooter shortly before midnight; according to reports, Aldrich is believed to have used an AR-15-style rifle.
Reports have since emerged that Aldrich was subdued by at least two unarmed club patrons: Richard Fierro, a U.S. Army veteran, and an as-yet-unidentified woman who is believed to have kicked Aldrich in the face after Fierro had tackled him to the ground.
Fierro was at the club with his wife, his daughter, and his daughter’s boyfriend to celebrate a friend’s birthday and watch a drag show, which featured his daughter’s friend.
Fierro’s daughter’s boyfriend, Raymond Greene Vance, 22, was killed in the attack.
The other victims are bartender Daniel Davis Aston, 28; customer Kelly Loving, 40; bartender and bar co-owner Derrick Rump, 38, and customer Ashley Paugh, 35.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Aldrich was arrested in a 2021 kidnapping case out of El Paso County — the county in which Colorado Springs sits — according to CNN. Aldrich’s mother, Laura Voepel, said he was threatening to hurt her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition, authorities said. After initially refusing to surrender to authorities, Aldrich was eventually detained and booked into jail on two counts of felony menacing and three counts of first-degree kidnapping.
Aldrich is reportedly the grandson of California Assemblyman Randy Voepel, according to the Los Angeles Times. Voepel, a Republican, had what Politico described as a “mixed voting record” on LGBTQ+ bills. He also praised the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, allegedly calling it the “first shots fired against tyranny” and comparing it to the Revolutionary War.
Aldrich made his first court appearance on Wednesday. Records show that he is currently being held without bail in the El Paso County Jail.
[Image via Colorado Springs Police Department.]
