Colorado gay nightclub shooting suspect expected to take plea deal

The suspect in last year’s mass shooting at a Colorado gay nightclub is expected to take a plea deal that would guarantee a life sentence, several survivors told The Associated Press. 

The news agency reported early Thursday that the suspect, 23-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, made multiple jailhouse calls to the AP expressing remorse over the shooting, saying they “need to take responsibility for what happened.” 

Several people whose loved ones were injured or killed in the shooting said state prosecutors told them Aldrich will plead guilty to the charges and receive the maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Federal and state authorities and defense attorneys for Aldrich declined to comment to the AP on any potential deal, but state law requires victims to be notified of these types of agreements.

Five people were killed and 18 others were injured after a shooter opened fire at Club Q in November in Colorado Springs. Aldrich, who is nonbinary, was charged with more than 300 counts, including murder and hate crimes. 

An unidentified senior law enforcement official familiar with the matter told the AP the Justice Department is also considering filing federal hate crime charges against Aldrich. 

The AP reported prosecutors have asked survivors to prepare written victim-impact statements for the next scheduled hearing in the case later this month. 

Officials said after the shooting that two people present, a Navy petty officer and an Army veteran, subdued the shooter until police arrived. The Navy petty officer reportedly grabbed the barrel of the shooter’s firearm, while the veteran helped take the shooter down and beat them. 

Defense attorneys have not argued Aldrich was responsible for the shooting but maintained they were under the influence of drugs and not motivated by hatred. 

Aldrich told the AP the notion they were motivated by hate to carry out the shooting is “completely off base,” adding they do not know why the shooting happened. 

“I don’t know. That’s why I think it’s so hard to comprehend that it did happen. … I’m either going to get the death penalty federally, or I will go to prison for life, that’s a given,” Aldrich said.