Prosecutors on Tuesday formally charged the accused Club Q shooter with 305 counts in a shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs that left five people dead and more than a dozen others wounded.

The charges include 10 counts of first-degree murder, 86 counts of attempted first-degree murder and 48 counts of bias motivated crime. 

Anderson Lee Aldrich: A history of family travail, personal violence

Wearing a yellow inmate jumpsuit and handcuffs, Anderson Aldrich stared straight ahead and did not speak during his first in-person court hearing. Aldrich’s facial bruising had healed significantly since a video hearing nearly two weeks ago. 

By the numbers

According to court records, the charges against Anderson Aldrich are as follows:

• 10 counts of first-degree murder.
• 86 counts of attempted first-degree murder.
• 86 counts of first-degree assault.
• Four counts of second-degree assault.
• 48 counts of bias motivated crime.
• 71 counts of violent crime causing death and using a weapon.

District Attorney Michael J. Allen said the prosecution may request to amend the charges in the future.

“We are not going to tolerate actions against community members based on their sexual identity,” District Attorney Michael J. Allen said at a news conference after the hearing. “Members of that community have been harassed and (intimidated) and abused for too long. And that’s not going to occur in the 4th Judicial District.”

The shooting occurred Nov. 19 at Club Q, which many described as a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community.  

Allen told reporters that while he can’t be sure, he would be “surprised” if Aldrich’s trial takes place in 2023. 

“It is not uncommon that these things will take some amount of time,” Allen said. 

He referenced the case of Letecia Stauch, which has been punctuated by a series of delays, to show how long it can take before a case goes to trial. 

Gov. Polis visits shooting site at Club Q as community heals

Stauch’s jury trial is scheduled to begin March 20, more than three years after she allegedly killed her 11-year-old stepson Gannon in January 2020. 

Asked if competency could play a factor in Aldrich’s case, Allen said he was unsure of the defense’s strategy, but that it isn’t “uncommon in cases like this for (mental competency) to become an issue.”

Aldrich’s defense did not raise concerns about the defendant’s competency during Tuesday’s hearing. 

What’s next for accused Club Q shooter

If the defense decides to request a competency evaluation, any future court proceedings would be delayed until the evaluation is returned. If Aldrich were to be found not competent to stand trial, the case would remain in limbo and not progress until Aldrich is restored to competency. 

Robert Dear, the man accused of shooting and killing three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood in 2015, has yet to face a trial because he has been found incompetent to stand trial since his arrest. 

Judge Michael McHenry, following the filing of charges against Aldrich, granted a request from the prosecution for Aldrich’s arrest affidavit to be unsealed. The court papers should be available to the public by the end of Wednesday, McHenry said.

Allen said that while he couldn’t talk about what is in the affidavit, he told reporters that it might contain “much less information than you might expect.”

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Five people were shot and killed, 17 were shot and wounded and five others were injured in a different way during the Club Q attack. Police said Aldrich entered the club and shot at patrons for about six minutes before being stopped by two bystanders.

Allen said the case is still an open investigation, and that his office is still working to identify potential victims who were at Club Q the night of the shooting.  

Aldrich’s preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin Feb. 22. At that hearing, a judge will determine whether there is sufficient evidence for the defendant to stand trial. 

One of Aldrich’s defense attorneys, Joseph Archambault, objected to holding the preliminary hearing on that date, saying he and his team would not be ready by then to properly represent Aldrich. 

“We will not be ready. … We will not be effective,” Archambault told McHenry. 

Despite the defense’s objection, McHenry opted to schedule the first day of the preliminary hearing for Feb. 22. Allen said he anticipates the hearing will last two full days. 

Archambault referred to his client as “Mx. Aldrich,” a designation for people who identify as nonbinary. Prosecutors referred to Aldrich as “the defendant” throughout the hearing. 

On Tuesday, Allen declined to comment when reporters asked him about Aldrich’s 2021 bomb threat case, in which Aldrich allegedly threatened to detonate a bomb and told their grandparents that they wanted to be “the next mass shooter.”

Aldrich will remain in custody at El Paso County jail with no possibility of bond.