Colorado gunman kills 5 at gay nightclub

Police arrested 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich after he opened fire inside a Colorado Springs gay nightclub on Saturday night. Authorities said a patron of Club Q grabbed a handgun from Aldrich, hit him, and pinned him to the ground until police arrived. Five people were killed and at least 17 other people sustained injuries.

Who is Aldrich? Aldrich was arrested in 2021 after threatening his mother with a homemade bomb and other weapons. Authorities said they found no explosives at the time and sealed the records of the incident. The club called Saturday’s shooting a “hate attack,” but authorities are still determining a motive and whether to prosecute the violence as a hate crime. Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said detectives are also investigating if anyone helped Aldrich ahead of the attack.

Dig deeper: Listen to Cal Thomas’ commentary on The World and Everything in It podcast about the causes of rising crime.