Army veteran gives account of tackling Colorado Springs gunman
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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.
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 following a mass shooting inside LGBT+ nightclub Club Q. The suspect will remain jailed without bond.
Booking photos reveal several bruises and other apparent wounds to the suspect’s face and neck.
One year before the the massacre, 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”.
A video that reportedly shows the suspect and their mother during an airport confrontation in July allegedly followed their use of racist slurs against passengers, among several emerging details about the suspect and their family relationshps in the wake of the attack.
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Colorado Springs shooter’s non-binary claim won’t stop hate crime charges, legal experts say
Attorney for Aldrich noted in a footnote in a court filing this week at Aldrich uses they/them pronouns and identifies as nonbinary, which critics have accused of being a cynical legal maneuver to avoid hate crime charges, or as a last-minute defense; Aldrich’s family members and former friends have not used those gender pronouns.
Even though the defence has not categorically stated anything about using the suspect’s gender identity, legal experts said including pronouns in Tuesday’s court filing was a “very strategic move aimed at building sympathy to ward off the chances of attracting additional charges”.
The suspect’s gender identity is “not relevant,” according to Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor. “Obviously the defense will want to get it in, but it’s not a defense.”
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 20:00
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Club Q survivor speaks out for first time since attack: Suspect hurt ‘a lot of pure, true hearts that I don’t know if they’ll be the same’
During a press conference at Centura Penrose Cancer Center, Anthony, who survived several gunshot wounds during the mass shooting at Club Q, had a message for the suspect accused of killing five people and injuring 17 others.
“I would probably say, ‘Why don’t you meet somebody and get to know their true heart before passing judgment,’” Anthony told reporters this week. “Because he really did harm a lot of pure, true hearts that I don’t know if they’ll be the same.”
”I pretty much heard it first along with everybody else that was up by the door. And after that, I don’t know what happened,” Anthony said. “I don’t know anything because I just hid.”
He was shot in several different areas and hi by shrapnel in his rear end and arm.
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 19:30
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Suspect and mother allegedly used racist slurs against airline passengers during July flight
A cell phone video from an airline passenger obtained by local news outlet Fox 31 allegedly shows mass shooting suspect Anderson Aldrich and Aldrich’s mother Laura Voepel during an airport confrontation on 31 July.
The pair allegedly used racist slurs towards a Hispanic family and a Black man during a flight.
The video follows media reports stringing together details about the suspect and family relationships in the weeks and months that preceded the attack.
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 19:00
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Lauren Boebert claims ‘the left’ is blaming her for the Club Q shooting because she won her re-election
After the Club Q mass shooting, critics have accused Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert of amplifying anti-gay and anti-trans rhetoric, invoking similar language that has been blamed for the attack.
She claims that the criticism comes from “the left” who is upset that she won her re-election, “so they’re trying to find something to go after me about.”
“I’ve been accused of just about every mass shooting there has been,” she told OAN’s Real America host Dan Ball. “We’re all sick of this.”
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 18:45
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Biden calls Club Q owners to offer condolences in wake of attack
(AP)
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden called the owners of Club Q, Nic Grzecka and Matthew Haynes, “to offer condolences” in the wake of the mass shooting inside the LGBT+ nightclub, according to the White House.
“They reiterated their support for the community as well as their commitment to fighting back against hate and gun violence,” according to a readout of the call. “They also thanked Nic and Matthew for the incredible contributions they have made and will continue to make to Colorado Springs.”
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 18:30
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Biden rails against ‘sick’ semi-automatic weapons and unenforced red flag laws on Thanksgiving in Nantucket
President Joe Biden hs denounced the proliferation of semi-automatic weapons and the fact that some areas of the country did not enforce so-called “red flag laws” meant to prevent people who posed a danger to themselves and others.
The Independent’s Eric Garcia reports:
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 18:15
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Ex-Trump lawyer says Colorado Springs victims are ‘reaping the consequences of having eternal damnation’
Right-wing media personalities and far-right figures have doubled down on anti-LGBT+ rhetoric in the wake of a mass shooting inside a Colorado Springs LGBT+ nightclub that left five dead and at least 18 others injured.
Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for Donald Trump, condemned what she characterised as “the left’s narrative” about the shooting that points blame at Christians who “hate homosexual and transgender individuals” and “somehow that ‘hate’ led to the shooting.”
Yet within the same Tuesday broadcast of her The Jenna Ellis Show, she alleges that the five people who were killed inside Club Q gave “no evidence at all that they were Christians” and that they “are now reaping the consequences of having eternal damnation.”
Her remarks added to a chorus of right-wing media commentary and far-right influencers who have amplified inflammatory anti-gay and anti-trans rhetoric even after the mass shooting, echoing a wave of politicised harassment aimed at LGBT+ people in the weeks and months that preceded it.
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 17:45
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Colorado Springs councilman suggests mayoral candidates should propose assault weapons ban
Colorado Springs City Councilman Bill Murray challenged two other councilors to discuss implementing a citywide assault weapons ban in the wake of the mass shooting that killed five people and injured 18 others in a LGBT+ nightclub on Saturday night.
“It might be a good thing for the two mayoral candidates here to actually discuss banning assault weapons in the city,” said Mr Murray, aiming at Tom Strand and Wayne Williams – among seven candidates running for mayor in the upcoming race.
His remarks followed a city council hearing during which residents and community leaders “expressed anger, frustration, gratitude and pleas for action” in the aftermath of the attack, according to Colorado Public Radio.
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 17:15
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Biden calls AR-style rifle purchases ‘sick’ with ‘no social redeeming value’
Speaking to reporters in Nantucket where President Biden is celebrating Thanksgiving with his family, the president said “the idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick.”
“Just sick,” he added. “It has no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.”
Asked whether his administartion can advance any additional gun reform measures within the next two years, with Republicans holding a slim majority in the House of Representatives and Democrats hold the Senate, the president said his is “going to try.”
“I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons,” he added. “I’m going to do it whenever – I’ve got to make that assessment as I get in and start counting votes.”
Within the last week, following shootings in Colorado and Virginia, the president has twice called on Congress to renew a federal assault weapons ban, targeting weapons like AR-style rifles that are repeatedly used in mass shooting attacks. The ban expired in 2004.
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 16:45
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ICYMI: Old arrest records suggest Colorado Springs suspect wanted to ‘go out in a blaze’
Anderson Lee Aldrich previously told family members that they wanted to be the “next mass killer,” Colorado’s KKTV reports.
In June of 2021, Aldrich – whose attorneys indicated in a new court filing that the Club Q mass shooting suspect identifies as nonbinary –was arrested for threatening the grandmother, with whom they lived, with a homemade bomb, prompting a heavily armed police tactical team to respond and evacuate surrounding homes.
Eventually, crisis negotiators were able to intervene,
Alex Woodward24 November 2022 16:30