Colorado shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich appears dazed, bloodied in court, bruised in mugshot
The person accused of massacring five people in a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub was badly battered and covered in bruises from the rampage in new mugshots released Wednesday — after appearing visibly dazed in court.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22 — who identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they/them — was seen with huge patches of discoloration on their face and neck in the mugshots after they were subdued by two bystanders in the middle of the allege🐽d attack at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub on Saturday.
Aldrich was ordered held without bond at their first court appearance Wednesday, where they sported a beard and appeared cuffed and slouched in a chair durin🌞g the video hearing, with their head slumped aꦓnd resting on their shoulder as if asleep.
“Could the defendant please state his name?” Judge Charlott𒆙e Ankeny asked.
“Anderson Aldrich,” they replied weakly.
Aldrich, who appeared bloodied and bruised, sat near😼ly motionless during the five-minute hearing and only spoke when prompted by two public defenders at their side in El Paso County Jail.
“Anderson Aldrich, did you watch the video concerning your constitutional rig♛hts in this case?” th❀e judge asked.
“Yes,” A♑ldrich replied in a whisper after a lengthy pause.
“Do you have any questions about those ri🔯ghts?” the judge said.
Aldrich didn’t respond for seve⛦ral seconds before replying, “No.”
Aldrich will likely be slapped with murder and hate-crime charges, but formal charges have yet to be filed and court records about their arr✱est have been sealed at the request of prosecutors. Defense attorneys requested to see the arrest records.
The suspect is accused of marching into Club Q just before midnight Saturday and spraying gunfire, killing five and wounding more𝐆 than a dozen others. The alleged shooter’s rampage ended when they were tackled by two people in the club, who disarmed them and held them untilꦕ cops arr💮ived.
Authorities haven’t answered questions about a potential motive, but a hate-crime charge would mean prosecutors believe they can prove bias as a motive, 💎potentially based on sexual or gender identities o📖f the victims.
In a series of court filings Tuesday, the public defe♛nder representing Aldrich said they are non-binary.
“They use they/them pronouns, and 🌠for the purposes of all formal filings, will be addressed as Mx. Aldrich,” a𒈔 footnote in the filings said.
The note di🥂dn’t elaborate and it wasn’t clear when the su𝄹spect began to identify as non-binary.
Aldrich had changed their name from Nicholas F. Brink in 2016, according to a petition filed on their behalf in Texas court. The change, requested by Aldrich’s grand𒁃parents, ca🐬me just before their 16th birthday to “protect himself” from a father with a lengthy rap sheet, the petition stated.
“Minor wishes to protect himself and his fܫuture from any connections to birth father and his criminal history,” the petition said. “Father has had no contact with minor for several years.”
Aldrich’s dad, Aaron Brink, is a fওormer MMA fighte🍸r and porn actor who had been convicted for battery against Aldrich’s mom, Laura Voepel.
Prior to the name change, Aldrich had been bullied oꦺnline, with photos and taunts appearing to target then-Brink, according to the Washington 🐈Post.
Aldrich was arrested last year for allegedly making a bomb threat and threatening their mom. The Associated Press obtained surveillance footage showing Aldrich at their moꦬther’s door and saying, “This is where I stand. Today I 🐻die.”
No explosives were found, but gun control advocates are questi🃏oning why Aldrich’s firearms weren’t seized un🐽der the state’s “red flag” laws.
Aldrich’s next court appearance is set for Dec. 6.
With Post wires
