Colorado Springs Club Q shooting: Court unseals Aldrich's bomb threat charges - NPR

The fishy successful past month's Club Q's shooting was arrested past twelvemonth connected felony charges, but the lawsuit ne'er made it to proceedings due to the fact that the victims — the suspect's relatives — wouldn't testify, Colorado authorities said Thursday.

Anderson Lee Aldrich is accused of fatally shooting 5 radical and wounding 17 others astatine the cheery nightclub successful Colorado Springs past month. Prosecutors charged Aldrich, who uses they/them pronouns, with 305 transgression counts connected Tuesday.

And connected Thursday, Colorado authorities and recently unsealed tribunal documents confirmed it wasn't the archetypal clip the 22-year-old has faced transgression charges.

A tribunal dismissed 5 felony charges against Aldrich 4 months earlier the Club Q shooting

In June 2021, Aldrich was arrested connected allegations of making a weaponry menace that led to a lengthy standoff with SWAT teams, according to an affidavit unsealed Thursday by a judge.

Aldrich's grandparents told constabulary that Aldrich had held them hostage successful their ain home, astatine times chugging vodka, pointing a limb astatine their heads and sharing plans to beryllium the adjacent wide killer.

Aldrich was charged with 5 felonies, including first-degree kidnapping. The lawsuit was prosecuted successful Colorado, but the state's strict nationalist records laws had kept the documents sealed and prevented authorities officials from publically acknowledging their existence.

That didn't halt section and nationalist media outlets from reporting connected the lawsuit successful the contiguous aftermath of the Club Q shooting. But incomplete and misleading narratives prompted Colorado District Attorney Michael Allen to clasp a quality league connected Thursday, defending his office's handling of the case.

Any accidental of condemnation dissolved erstwhile it appeared that Aldrich's grandparents and parent were unwilling to testify, Allen said.

A subpoena work failed to link with the witnesses, the lone radical who could've delivered grounds connected the weaponry menace without violating hearsay laws.

Timing besides played a role. After 2 proceedings delays astatine the prosecution's request, the justice granted the defense's question to disregard successful July 2022, 3 weeks up of the six-month deadline for completing a "speedy trial" nether Colorado law.

"No 1 gave up connected this case. We were warring until the precise end," Allen said.

"The lone mode that it would person prevented the [Club Q] calamity is if the witnesses really were contiguous astatine trial, testified and idiosyncratic was convicted," helium added.

Aldrich allegedly told their household they would beryllium the adjacent wide killer

Aldrich's grandmother, Pamela Pullen, placed the archetypal 911 telephone starring to Aldrich's arrest, saying she was "living successful fear" aft Aldrich said they were collecting ammunition, firearms and bulletproof armor successful bid to go the adjacent wide shooter, according to apprehension records.

On June 18, 2021, Pullen called a household gathering to sermon a program to determination to Florida. Aldrich, upset by the idea, allegedly began loading bullets into the mag of a Glock handgun and aiming it astatine their grandparents, saying "you guys dice today."

Aldrich aboriginal carried a container of chemicals into the room, claiming it was a homemade bomb.

After their grandparents fled by car, Aldrich drove to their mother's house. A SWAT squad yet surrounded the property, negotiating with Aldrich.

They had "a state mask, armor, piercing rounds" and were "ready to spell to the end" but yet surrendered to police, the apprehension records say.

In an August 2021 proceeding to little Aldrich's archetypal $1 cardinal bond, their parent and grandparents described them to the justice arsenic loving, unusually agleam and idiosyncratic who would instrumentality vantage of different chance.

Aldrich was released a fewer days aboriginal connected a $100,000 enslaved with conditions they unrecorded with their mother.

Kristy Bootes, an autarkic victim's advocator that spoke astatine the territory attorney's quality conference, said it was precise communal for witnesses to recant their statements oregon diminution to attest against household members.

"There's galore reasons wherefore a transgression unfortunate whitethorn recant, but successful my experience, the astir communal reasons are love, fearfulness and guilt," she explained, though the crushed that Aldrich's household didn't attest is inactive unclear.

An bid to restrict Aldrich's entree to weapons expired erstwhile the lawsuit was dismissed

Reporters peppered Allen with questions astir wherefore the incidental hadn't triggered Colorado's reddish emblem laws, which are designed to forestall individuals deemed astatine hazard of unit from purchasing oregon possessing a firearm.

Investigators seized 2 weapons from Aldrich astatine the clip of the weaponry menace — a alleged "ghost gun" with a Glock framework and nary serial number, arsenic good arsenic an battle rifle.

Aldrich unsuccessfully petitioned to retrieve the guns from the El Paso County Sheriff's Office pursuing their release.

Other tribunal documents released Thursday included a missive from 2 siblings of Aldrich's grandfather, which claims Aldrich had been making guns connected a 3D printer.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez told NPR's Morning Edition past month that the shooter astatine Club Q carried an "AR-style platform" agelong weapon on with aggregate magazines with ammunition, but authorities person not provided immoderate updates connected however and erstwhile the weapons were obtained.

Aldrich's felony charges successful the weaponry menace lawsuit triggered a mandatory extortion order, which has the aforesaid effect arsenic reddish emblem laws. It remained successful effect the 383 days the lawsuit was pending, but ended successful July 2022 with the case's dismissal.

Under Colorado law, household members oregon instrumentality enforcement tin petition an exigency hazard extortion bid that allows the seizure of weapons from idiosyncratic deemed a tenable threat. But the ERPO lone takes effect for 14 days.

After the 14 days expire, a tribunal tin assistance an hold lasting up to 364 days, but Allen said the territory attorney's bureau lacks the powerfulness to marque specified a petition nether authorities statute.

One bureau that does person the powerfulness to petition an ERPO is the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, which investigated the 2021 incident.

But successful a connection released Thursday, the bureau said Aldrich didn't request an ERPO due to the fact that it had already seized each known weapons successful Aldrich's possession and the grounds to warrant an ERPO was rendered unusable erstwhile the lawsuit was dismissed and sealed.

"The ineligible quality Aldrich had to get firearms pursuing the dismissal of the erstwhile lawsuit and the [mandatory extortion bid triggered by the felony charges] tin lone beryllium addressed legislatively," reads the statement. "It astir surely is not a concern with which to indict the El Paso County Sheriff's Office for wrongdoing oregon inaction successful this case."

In preliminary hearings for the Club Q case, Aldrich's attorneys person repeatedly called for documents to beryllium sealed to support the defendant's rights for a just proceedings successful the look of aggravated publicity.

Aldrich has yet to participate a plea for the 305 transgression charges.