Colorado Shooting Suspect Held Without Bond as New Details Emerge - The New York Times

COLORADO SPRINGS — The fishy accused of fatally shooting 5 radical astatine an L.G.B.T.Q. nightclub earlier being tackled and pistol-whipped by bystanders sat slumped during a archetypal tribunal quality connected Wednesday, bruised, swollen and uttering slurred responses to a judge’s little questions.

The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, appeared connected video from jailhouse and was ordered held without bond. The accused shooter, who is being held connected suspicion of first-degree execution and hatred crimes, is expected to beryllium formally charged astatine a proceeding connected Dec. 6.

New details emerged astir the fishy arsenic the small, close-knit L.G.B.T.Q. assemblage successful this blimpish metropolis hoisted a elephantine rainbow emblem extracurricular City Hall to grieve the onslaught astatine Club Q, which had been an oasis for many.

Public defenders representing the accused shooter disclosed successful tribunal papers made nationalist precocious connected Tuesday that their lawsuit identified arsenic nonbinary and utilized they-them pronouns. One footnote successful the filings said that “for the purposes of each ceremonial filings,” their lawsuit “will beryllium addressed arsenic Mx. Aldrich.”

At a quality league extracurricular the courthouse, District Attorney Michael J. Allen said the suspect’s sex individuality would not impact his attack to the lawsuit oregon power whether helium files hate-crimes charges.

“I’m looking astatine evidence,” helium said. “That’s what we look astatine erstwhile we marque filing decisions.”

Prosecutors person not said what they believed the motive was for the attack.

. Lawyers for the fishy did not respond to requests for comment.

Kristen Prata Browde, a co-chair of the National Trans Bar Association, said that a suspect’s sex individuality should person nary bearing connected whether they tin beryllium prosecuted for a hatred transgression successful the Club Q shooting.

“The motive for a transgression isn’t babelike connected whether you are oregon are not a subordinate of a protected class,” Ms. Prata Browde said. “It legally has nary significance, arsenic acold arsenic whether the actions of this idiosyncratic acceptable wrong the instrumentality regarding hatred crimes.”

She and different ineligible experts said it would beryllium champion for the tribunal and prosecutors to respect the suspect’s preferred pronouns and sex identity, and dainty them “like immoderate different defendant.”

Stan Garnett, the erstwhile territory lawyer successful Boulder County, Colo., said helium did not cognize of immoderate ineligible rules that required Colorado prosecutors oregon a justice to grant a defendant’s pronouns oregon usage “Mx.” but said “it would beryllium precise atrocious signifier to disregard a suspect’s self-identification.”

When the fishy was arrested, the constabulary listed 5 imaginable counts of execution and 5 counts of what Colorado authorities instrumentality refers to arsenic “bias-motivated” crimes, meaning that they were motivated astatine slightest successful portion by bias concerning a victim’s race, nationality, religion, disability, intersexual predisposition oregon sex identity. Such crimes are much wide known arsenic hatred crimes.

According to the constabulary and witnesses, the attacker, clad successful assemblage armor, burst into the nine conscionable earlier midnight connected Saturday and opened occurrence with a agelong gun, sidesplitting 5 radical and injuring 18 others earlier being tackled by radical wrong the club.

One nine patron, an Army veteran, grabbed a handgun from the assailant and pummeled them bloody, and told different idiosyncratic to footwear the fishy successful the look — interventions that the authorities said had saved lives.

In the aftermath of the attack, survivors and their families person focused connected whether the suspect’s household oregon law-enforcement officials could person intervened earlier the attack, and whether Colorado’s reddish emblem laws could person been utilized to prehend weapons from the suspect.

Law enforcement officials person said the fishy was arrested past twelvemonth extracurricular Colorado Springs aft the suspect’s parent reported being threatened by the fishy astir a homemade weaponry and different weapons. A quality merchandise from the El Paso County Sheriff astir the 2021 incidental described a frightening scene, with adjacent houses evacuated, and said that a dialog squad was utilized to marque an arrest.

The fishy was not prosecuted. Court records involving the menace person been sealed.

Interviews and nationalist records revealed that the fishy had a troubled puerility marked by predominant moves. The suspect’s parent and begetter divorced erstwhile the fishy was little than 2 years old. Each genitor had problems with substance maltreatment and a past of arrests.

The fishy was calved Nicholas Brink, but legally changed their sanction to Anderson Lee Aldrich arsenic a teen successful Bexar County, Texas, according to tribunal documents. (The sanction alteration was reported earlier by The Washington Post.)

In 2016, the suspect’s grandparents, acting arsenic guardians, referred to the fishy arsenic antheral successful tribunal documents they filed successful a Texas tribunal to petition a sanction change. “Minor wishes to support himself + his aboriginal from immoderate connections to commencement begetter + his transgression history,” the grandparents wrote to the court. “Father has had nary interaction with insignificant for respective years.”

By that time, the suspect’s father, Aaron Franklin Brink, had been arrested galore times successful California connected charges related to cause usage and erratic driving, tribunal records show.

Mr. Brink said successful an interrogation astatine his location successful San Diego that his ex-wife, Laura Voepel, told him years agone that their kid had changed their sanction due to the fact that they were embarrassed by their father. Mr. Brink said Ms. Voepel aboriginal told him that their kid had died, and that helium believed that to beryllium the lawsuit until respective months ago, erstwhile Mr. Brink and the fishy reconnected by phone.

Mr. Brink said the telephone telephone devolved into an argument, and astatine 1 constituent his kid threatened to bushed him up. Yet Mr. Brink said the speech ended amicably.

Mr. Brink, who said helium had worked arsenic a pornographic histrion and was present a mixed martial arts coach, described himself arsenic spiritual and a blimpish Republican who condemned weapon violence. He acknowledged that helium had voiced beardown disapproval of cheery radical erstwhile the kid was younger. Even so, successful the interrogation Mr. Brink expressed sympathy for the families of the victims successful the nine shooting.

The suspect’s parent reported having a decades-old conflict with intelligence unwellness and a hard upbringing that seemed to stem from troubles astatine home, according to a intelligence valuation filed successful tribunal documents successful Texas.

She was charged successful California with nationalist intoxication successful 2008, and with driving nether the power and possessing a controlled substance without a valid medicine successful 2011. The parent was placed connected 5 years’ probation successful Texas aft an occurrence successful 2012 successful which, aft being admitted to the psychiatric ward of a San Antonio hospital, she acceptable her furniture connected fire, according to tribunal records.

Her begetter is simply a blimpish Republican California legislator, Randy Voepel, who astatine the clip of the 2012 incidental was the politician of Santee successful San Diego County. Assemblyman Voepel declined to remark connected his grandson’s arrest, according to a legislative aide.

In a psychiatric valuation filed with the court, Ms. Voepel told the court-ordered scientist that her troubles began astatine property 10 aft her parents separated and she became “really isolated and neglected.”

Attempts to scope Ms. Voepel for remark were unsuccessful.

Court records indicated that the fishy had been surviving since puerility with their maternal grandparents, who listed the kid arsenic a babelike arsenic agelong agone arsenic 2008.

Kirsten Noyes contributed research.