Suspect in Club Q shooting to appear in court twice this week
Jan. 10—Anderson Aldrich, the alleged Club Q mass shooter, is set to make two appearances in district court this week.
Aldrich's first appearance of the week will come on Wednesday morning for a hearing in regards to Aldrich's 2021 bomb threat case where Aldrich allegedly threatened to detonate a bomb and told their grandparents that they wanted to be "the next mass shooter."
In August, 2022, Aldrich's case was dismissed and sealed by an El Paso County judge because Aldrich's mother and grandparents ignored subpoenas and refused to testify, according to 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen
Aldrich was most recently in court for the bomb threat case on Dec. 8, 2022, when Judge Robin Chittum ruled to have the case unsealed and the court documents released to the public.
During that same hearing, Chittum took a request to hold former El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder in contempt for what the defense described as "hoodwinking" the court into holding a public hearing on the case.
In court documents obtained by The Gazette, the request to hold Elder in contempt is due to an assertion from the defense that someone from the Sheriff's Office leaked classified information to the media about this sealed case.
Court records obtained by The Gazette show that on Jan. 3, attorneys representing Elder filed a motion to dismiss the motion to hold him in contempt, and on Jan. 9 Aldrich's defense attorney Megan Ring filed a response advising the court not to drop the contempt motion.
Chittum could rule on this at the Wednesday morning hearing.
On Friday afternoon Aldrich will return to Colorado's 4th Judicial District Court to for a motions hearing on the 2022 shooting at the LGBTQ+ nightclub Club Q in Colorado Springs.
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Aldrich currently faces 305 criminal charges for allegedly killing five patrons of Club Q and injuring nearly two dozen more on Nov. 19, 2022. The Gazette reported on Monday that District Attorney Allen filed a motion to add 12 new criminal charges to Aldrich's case.
Allen proposed the new charges in connection with two victims who survived the attack. The amended charges include attempted murder, attempted assault and bias-motivated crime against each of the victims. The total charge count would rise to 317.
The original charges included 10 counts of first-degree murder, 86 counts of attempted first-degree murder and 48 counts of bias motivated crime.
Aldrich will have their preliminary hearing for the Club Q shooting next month on Feb. 22.
Also appearing in court on Wednesday is Joel Hollendorfer, who is accused of killing Kara Nichols and burying her in his parent's backyard in October, 2012.
Most recently in court, Judge William Bain ruled that Hollendorfer must face a jury trial for allegedly killing Nichols. At Wednesday's arraignment hearing, Hollendorfer will have his first chance to enter a plea on the charges of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Both Aldrich and Hollendorfer currently reside in El Paso County jail with no possibility of posting bond.
