Arizona Tribune - US LGBTQ club shooting suspect pleads guilty

NYSE - LSE
GSK 0.02% 48.13 $
NGG 0.62% 76.86 $
BCE 0.6% 23.39 $
AZN 0.33% 160.17 $
RIO 0.57% 99.96 $
RELX -0.06% 33.8 $
CMSC 0.05% 20.45 $
RBGPF 0.41% 68.02 $
RYCEF 2.1% 19.54 $
CMSD -0.1% 20.32 $
BCC 0.52% 75.44 $
BTI 0.69% 55.24 $
VOD 0.4% 17.4 $
BP 0.04% 46.1 $
JRI -0.58% 12.01 $
US LGBTQ club shooting suspect pleads guilty
US LGBTQ club shooting suspect pleads guilty / Photo: SCOTT OLSON - GETTY IMAGES/AFP

US LGBTQ club shooting suspect pleads guilty

A 23-year-old who shot five people dead at an LGBTQ club in the US state of Colorado last year pleaded guilty on Monday and will face life in prison.

Text size:

Anderson Lee Aldrich, who identifies as non-binary, was facing more than 300 criminal counts for the November 19, 2022 rampage in Colorado Springs.

Aldrich was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, carrying out bias-motivated crimes and other offenses.

The murder charges carry a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

The bearded and heavy-set Aldrich appeared in an El Paso County court on Monday and told the judge he accepted the terms of the plea deal.

Aldrich was overpowered by patrons of Club Q in Colorado Springs after opening fire with an AR-15-style assault rifle, killing five people and injuring 18.

The shooting was the latest in a long history of attacks on LGBTQ venues in the United States, the deadliest of which claimed 49 lives at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016.

With more firearms than inhabitants, the United States has the highest rate of gun deaths of any developed country -- 49,000 in 2021, up from 45,000 the year before.

M.White--AT