Colorado Springs shooting suspect's mother accused of disorderly conduct hours after Club Q attack
The mother of the suspect in the deadly rampage at a Colorado Springs, Colorado, LGBTQ club was issued a summons for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest hours after the attack, police said.
Officers showed up at Laura Voepel’s home after, authorities say, Anderson Lee Aldrich opened fire inside Club Q, killing five people.
A Colorado Springs police report said Voepel, 45, was warned “multiple times to stop yelling” and “continued to make unreasonable noise directly next to multiple apartments.”
Police have not disclosed what she was yelling.
When an officer tried to place Voepel into custody, “she became combative by physically resisting officers control by force,” the report said.
She was given the summons, meaning she was cited and released at the scene, at 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 20 — more than three hours after police got a 911 call about the nightclub shooting.
No lawyer information was listed for Voepel, whose arraignment is set for Jan. 25, court records show.
In addition to the five people who were killed, 17 others were wounded in the Club Q shooting, police said. Five more were injured but not by gunshots. Twelve more were victims with no visible injuries, police said.
The suspect has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of committing the crimes as part of a bias attack. An El Paso County judge last week ordered that Aldrich be held without bail.
A look into Aldrich’s past revealed a tumultuous upbringing and a fractured family life.
The suspect was known as Nicholas Franklin Brink until 2016. Weeks before he turned 16, Aldrich petitioned a Texas court for a name change, court records show. A petition for the name change was submitted on Brink’s behalf by their grandparents, who were their legal guardians at the time.
Aldrich's father, Aaron Brink, a former mixed martial arts fighter who later starred in adult movies, told KFMB-TV of San Diego that until this year he thought Aldrich had died by suicide several years ago.
Brink has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for battery against Voepel, both before and after the suspect was born, state and federal court records show. A 2002 misdemeanor battery conviction in California resulted in a protective order that initially barred Brink from contacting the suspect or Voepel except through an attorney; it was later modified to allow monitored visits with the child, The Associated Press reported.
Brink said he divorced Voepel not long after their child was born.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
