Federal prosecutors agree to life sentence plus 190 years for Colorado's Club Q shooter in plea deal
A plea deal request on federal charges has been submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado for Club Q shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich. Aldrich has already pleaded guilty to state charges in the November 2022 shooting that killed five people at Club Q, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs.
Aldrich was sentenced to life in prison and was then transferred from a Colorado prison to the Wyoming State Penitentiary late last year. The convicted killer pleaded guilty in state court to five counts of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder, as well as having pleaded no contest to two counts of bias-motivated crimes in the mass shooting.
Additional details of the plea agreement were not publicly available as of Wednesday. CBS News Colorado reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office seeking comment but did not immediately receive a response.
In January, Aldrich was charged with five federal hate crime enhancements including five counts of murder with a firearm and an additional 69 cases of attempted murder or commission of a violent crime. At the time, Aldrich was represented by a federal public defender in court.
According to the court documents filed by federal prosecutors, "the government asks the court to accept the proposed plea agreement which requires the court to sentence the defendant to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole to be followed by a 190-year sentence of imprisonment (the recommended sentence)."
The court documents state that Aldrich's "brazen and calculated attacks on the employees and patrons of Club Q, and the impact of the defendant's actions on the greater LGBTQIA+ community, warrant this sentence and meet the goals of sentencing."
The shooting appeared to target one of Colorado Springs' most popular LGBTQ bars, killing five people, and injuring 25 others, 17 of those by gunfire. Aldrich was apprehended by people at the club and then arrested on scene by responding officers.
The five who died have been identified as Daniel Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38; and Raymond Green Vance, 22.
According to the federal court documents submitted on Tuesday, the government noted, "Financial records show that the defendant made over $9,000 in weapons-related purchases from at least 56 different vendors between September 2020 and the day of the attack."
Club Q has reopened in a new location as "The Q."
