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The father of Colorado Springs shooting suspect Anderson Aldrich says his first reaction to being informed of the attack at Club Q was to question why his son was at an LGBTQ bar.
Aaron Brink, a former porn actor and MMA fighter, told CBS8 he received a call on Sunday night from his son’s public defender to say he was under arrest for the mass shooting.
“They started telling me about the incident, a shooting involving multiple people,” Mr Brink said in an interview.
“And then I go on to find out it’s a gay bar. I said, ‘God, is he gay?’ I got scared, ‘S***, is he gay?’ And he’s not gay, so I said, ‘Phhhewww…’”
He told the CBS8 his family were Mormon, adding: “We don’t do gay.”
Mr Brink, 48, told the San Diego-based news site that his ex-wife Laura Voepel called him in 2016 to say that their son, who was born Nicholas Brink, had changed his name and killed himself.
“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 son 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 son 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.
Mr Brink had 58 professional mixed martial arts fights with a record of 29 wins, 27 losses and two no contests stretching 19 years, according to MMAWeekly.com.
He has also appeared in several adult films and the reality tv show Divorce Court.
Aldrich, who made his first appearance in court on Wednesday, has told his public defenders he is non-binary and wants to be addressed with them/they pronouns.