Creepy New Claims Emerge at Alleged Club Q Shooter’s Court Hearing
The 22-year-old accused of killing five people and wounding dozens more at a Colorado Springs nightclub catering to the LGBTQ community had a rainbow-patterned gun target at home and initially tried to blame the attack on a good Samaritan who in fact helped end the attack, according to court testimony on Wednesday.
During a preliminary hearing for suspected shooter Anderson Aldrich, 22, prosecutors presented various pieces of evidence including a photograph of the target, which bore a silhouetted human torso outlined with rainbow stripes. It was found in their mother’s bedroom at the home they shared together, prosecutors said. Aldrich, whose lawyer says identifies as non-binary, also allegedly had a hand-drawn map of the interior of Club Q, the site of the November 19, 2022 mass shooting, along with gun parts.
Club Q Owner: We Will Reopen. The Shooter, and Anti-LGBTQ Bigotry, Will Not Win
The prosecution exhibits will be released publicly by noon on Thursday, Fourth Judicial District Judge Michael McHenry said. Aldrich faces 323 individual criminal counts over the shocking attack, which include first-degree murder and bias-motivated crimes.
Lead detective Rebecca Joines, from the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD), testified Wednesday that Aldrich had been to Club Q at least six times prior to the Nov. 19 shooting, based on data from the establishment’s ID scanner. It was the only LGBTQ club Aldrich had visited in recent months, she said.
About three weeks before the attack, Aldrich spent about 90 minutes at the club and was seen on surveillance video enjoying a drink. Joines said a receipt from the visit showed that the bartender who served Aldrich that night was Derrick Rump, one of the five people killed weeks later.
Joines said detectives later found an app on Aldrich’s phone that showed they had planned to livestream the killings. A note found by police in Aldrich’s residence read, according to Joines, “Please relieve me of my own fate, I’m drowning in my own wake. How long must I wait for you to rid me of this hate?”
Joines said Aldrich was the “creator and/or administrator” of a website called FreeSpeechTube.ru and had posted a “neo-Nazi white supremacist training-type video” that included footage of attacks on synagogues and mosques. A Rockford, Illinois, man named Nick Brooks told investigators that he had communicated online with Aldrich, and that “Anderson expressed hatred towards the police and the LGBT community,” according to Joines. Brooks also said that Aldrich “used the N-word a lot” and used anti-gay slurs while gaming.
On the social media app Discord, Aldrich once DMed a photo to an associate of a gay pride parade the a rifle scope “centered over certain individuals,” Joines said.
Five people were killed in the shooting at Club Q.
Another online associate of Aldrich’s, Ohio resident Gilbert Arroyo, was interviewed by police in December, Joines testified. He told investigators that Aldrich was “obsessed with homicides and homicidal videos,” and that while Aldrich never described themselves as non-binary, Aldrich said their mother was and “forced Aldrich to go to gay clubs,” said Joines.
Joines said Aldrich was constructing untraceable “ghost guns” at home, which are kit-built and do not have serial numbers. In a previously unsealed affidavit, authorities said Aldrich had used money from their grandmother to buy a pair of 3D printers and make their own guns.
Joseph Archambault, Aldrich’s lawyer, asked Joines if she had heard of a number of medications Aldrich had been prescribed, suggesting that Aldrich suffered from, among other things, schizophrenia, psychosis, and bipolar disorder. He also claimed Aldrich suffered from PTSD over past childhood sexual abuse and was described by family members as “special needs,” but did “much better” when he was taking their medication.
Archambault said Aldrich had been prescribed suboxone, a drug used to treat opioid addiction, and introduced pictures of pieces of foil found in Aldrich’s car that seemingly indicated he was a drug user. Aldrich’s mom once pepper sprayed Aldrich in the face and threatened suicide, Archambault said. Aldrich reportedly told responding officers they did not feel safe with her, but said they were going to “go back anyway.”
Videos Show Club Q Suspect Threatening to ‘Blow’ Mom’s House ‘to Holy Hell’
Witnesses spent some of Wednesday’s hearing walking through new details of the massacre at Club Q.
When police arrived at the scene, Aldrich at first claimed the actual culprit was the good Samaritan who in fact intervened and stopped the bloodshed, CSPD Officer Connor Wallick testified. However, security footage taken the night of the shooting shows Aldrich, clad in a ballistic vest and toting an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, entering the club and firing immediately upon getting inside.
Wallick also testified that Aldrich claimed they had been shot in the head and was going to die. However, their injuries had come from being taken down by two patrons who were there that night, not from gunfire, Wallick said, noting that Aldrich never owned up to being the culprit.
On the stand, Wallick said he could hear people screaming and crying when he got to Club Q, and that he could smell “a lot of gunpowder.”
“You could hear the music that was still going,” he testified.
An empty high-capacity magazine, which holds 60 rounds, was found near the body of bartender Derrick Rump, CSPD Det. Jason Glasper said during his testimony on Wednesday. Magazines that hold more than 15 rounds have been banned in Colorado since 2012.
Defense attorneys asked Glasper what Aldrich said in the hospital; he said the suspect apologized, said they had been awake for four days, and may have described themselves to medical staff as non-binary. (Joines said she definitely recalled Aldrich identifying themselves as non-binary.)
Another witness, CSPD Det. Ashton Gardner, went through a list of survivors with the prosecution team. One of the wounded was a woman who had been shot in the face while trying to escape the club with her daughter, Gardner testified. At one point, Aldrich appeared to be crying.
Aldrich, who was born Nicholas Franklin Brink and once threatened to blow up their mother’s house, is beset by mental health issues, their lawyer said on Wednesday, noting that Aldrich’s mother also suffers from psychiatric issues. Aldrich’s father, former MMA fighter and porn actor Aaron Franklin Brink, has appeared in a raft of adult films including My MILF Boss 8, I Wanna Get Titty Fucked, and Latina Slut Academy. Brink left when Aldrich was a baby, a relative previously told The Daily Beast. Court records show Aldrich legally changed their name in 2016.
Aldrich’s mom, Laura Voepel, is the daughter of Southern California MAGA Republican Randy Voepel, who lost his state assembly seat last year to a less extreme woman candidate. Laura Voepel was arrested shortly after the Club Q massacre for allegedly becoming combative with officers who showed up at her home.
Following a 15-minute afternoon recess, the judge announced that someone using the screen name “Laura V” had been commenting on the case using the chat function on the court’s livestream of the hearing. After conferring in chambers with attorneys from both sides, the court’s IT staff disabled the chat feature before resuming.
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