Army veteran gives account of tackling Colorado Springs gunman
Colorado Springs shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich wanted to be the “next mass killer” and go out “in a blaze”, according to past arrest records.
Over one year before the 22-year-old allegedly killed five victims in a mass shooting at LGBT+ nightclub Club Q, Aldrich was arrested for making an alleged bomb threat. No charges were filed, and the case was sealed.
Records have surfaced showing that the accused shooter’s grandmother told police that they said they were “going to be the next mass killer and has been collecting ammunition, firearms, bullet-proof body armour and storing it in the basement of the residence”.
Aldrich, who allegedly identifies as nonbinary, is now facing preliminary charges including five counts of murder along with five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury over Saturday night’s massacre.
Aldrich’s father has sparked outrage after he said his first reaction on being informed of the mass shooting was to question why his child was at a gay bar.
Father of Colorado Springs suspected shooter said he was told Aldrich died years ago
Aaron Brink, a former porn actor and MMA fighter, told CBS8 he received a call on Sunday night from his child’s public defender to say he was under arrest for the mass shooting.
During the course of that interview with the San Diego-based news outlet, Mr Brink, 48, said that his ex-wife Laura Voepel called him in 2016 to say that their child, who was born Nicholas Brink, had changed their name and died by suicide.
“His mother told me he changed his name because I was in (reality tv show) Intervention and I had been a porno actor,” Mr Brink told CBS8.
He had continued to believe that his child was dead until six months ago, when he got a call out of the blue from Aldrich.
According to Mr Brink’s account, Aldrich was “pissed off” and wanted to “poke at the old man”.
He went on to say he taught his child how to fight at a young age and “praised him for violent behaviour”.
“I told him it works. It is instant and you’ll get immediate results,” Mr Brink told CBS8.
Johanna Chisholm24 November 2022 13:10
Who are the victims of the Club Q shooting?
Here’s what we know so far about the five people who were killed.
Johanna Chisholm24 November 2022 12:50
Hero veteran reveals how he tackled suspect with help from trans woman
A former Army captain tackled a shooter who had opened fire on an LGBT+ nightclub in Colorado Springs and beat the suspect unconscious as a trans woman in heels stomped on him.
Richard Fierro, 45, said he was with family and friends at Club Q on Saturday night when the suspect burst in and began spraying the club with automatic gunfire.
Mr Fierro told the New York Times his military training kicked in and he ran towards the shooter, grabbed him from behind by his body armour and pulled him to the ground.
“I just knew I had to take him down,” Mr Fierro said.
Johanna Chisholm24 November 2022 12:30
Gay club shooting suspect evaded Colorado’s red flag gun law
A year and a half before he was arrested in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting that left five people dead, Anderson Lee Aldrich allegedly threatened his mother with a homemade bomb, forcing neighbors in surrounding homes to evacuate while the bomb squad and crisis negotiators talked him into surrendering.
Yet despite that scare, there’s no record prosecutors ever moved forward with felony kidnapping and menacing charges against Aldrich, or that police or relatives tried to trigger Colorado’s “red flag” law that would have allowed authorities to seize the weapons and ammo the man’s mother says he had with him.
Gun control advocates say Aldrich’s June 2021 threat is a…