(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — The alleged gunman in a deadly shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado is scheduled to make his first court appearance virtually on Wednesday, court records show.
Five people were killed and 17 others wounded by gunfire in the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs late Saturday night. Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
The suspect, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, is being held without bond on 10 “arrest only” charges: five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, according to online court records.
Aldrich is expected to have his first court appearance on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. local time, court records show. The hearing is to let him know the charges he’s facing and advise him on the no-bond status, Colorado’s Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen, who serves El Paso and Teller counties, told ABC News.
The appearance will be done via video link from jail, according to the district attorney.
The district attorney’s office expects to file formal charges with the court within a few days of this first court appearance, Allen told reporters earlier this week. There may be more charges than what was initially included in the arrest warrant, he said.
“Very customary that final charges may be different than what’s in the arrest affidavit. Typically, there will be more charges than what is listed in the arrest affidavit. So don’t be surprised when you see a different list of charges when we finally file formal charges with the court,” he said.
The El Paso County District Court has sealed the arrest warrant and supporting documentation connected with Aldrich’s arrest. According to the motion by prosecutors, if the records were released, “it could jeopardize the ongoing case investigation.”
The gunman used a long rifle and was injured in the shooting, according to police. Two “heroes” — identified as Thomas James and Richard Fierro — confronted and fought with him, stopping him from shooting more people, police have said. Officers responded to the scene and detained Aldrich just after midnight and transported him to a local hospital, where he had been in custody in the days following the incident.
On Tuesday, the Colorado Springs Police Department said it had turned over custody of the suspect to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office at the jail.
Colorado Springs police said Tuesday they do not expect to provide additional updates on the case until Monday.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told ABC News that the suspect “had considerable ammo” and “was extremely well armed.” While a motive remains under investigation, Suthers said “it has the trappings of a hate crime.”
The Colorado state public defender wrote in court filings released Tuesday that Aldrich is nonbinary.
In June 2021, Aldrich was arrested in an alleged bomb threat incident after their mother alerted authorities that they were “threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons and ammunition,” according to a press release posted online last year by the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. While no explosives were found in his possession, Aldrich was booked into the El Paso County Jail on two counts of felony menacing and three counts of first-degree kidnapping, according to the sheriff’s office.
Aldrich’s 2021 arrest may not have appeared on background checks because the case does not appear to have been adjudicated, officials briefed on the investigation have told ABC News.
ABC News and other news organizations have petitioned the court in Colorado to unseal the records regarding Aldrich’s 2021 arrest.
Allen told ABC News on Tuesday that after the suspect has their first court appearance, the DA will appeal to have Aldrich’s sealed 2021 records opened next week.
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