By THOMAS PEIPERT, JESSE BEDAYN and BRITTANY PETERSON, Associated Press
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The alleged gunman facing possible hate crime charges within the fatal shooting of 5 people at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is nonbinary, the suspect’s defense team says in court filings.
In several standard motions filed on behalf of Anderson Lee Aldrich on Tuesday, public defenders discuss with the suspect as “Mx. Aldrich,” noting in footnotes that Aldrich, 22, is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. The motions cope with issues like unsealing documents and evidence gathering, not Aldrich’s identity and there was no elaboration about it.
Aldrich, who was beaten into submission by patrons during Saturday night’s shooting at Club Q, was scheduled to look in court for the primary time Wednesday by video from jail. The motive within the shooting was still under investigation, but authorities said Aldrich faces possible murder and hate crime charges.
Hate crime charges would require proving that the gunman was motivated by bias, reminiscent of against the victims’ actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The fees against Aldrich are preliminary, and prosecutors haven’t yet filed formal charges. Aldrich is represented by Joseph Archambault, a chief trial deputy with the state public defender’s office. Lawyers from the office don’t comment on cases to the media.
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It was also revealed Tuesday that Aldrich’s name was modified greater than six years ago as a young person, after filing a legal petition in Texas in search of to “protect himself” from a father with a criminal history including domestic violence against Aldrich’s mother.
Aldrich was generally known as Nicholas Franklin Brink until 2016. Weeks before turning 16, Aldrich petitioned a Texas court for a reputation change, court records show. A petition for the name change was submitted on Brink’s behalf by their grandparents, who were their legal guardians on the time.
“Minor wishes to guard himself and his future from any connections to birth father and his criminal history. Father has had no contact with minor for several years,” said the petition filed in Bexar County, Texas.
The suspect’s father is a mixed martial arts fighter and pornography performer with an in depth criminal history, including convictions for battery against the alleged shooter’s mother, Laura Voepel, each before and after the suspect was born, state and federal court records show. A 2002 misdemeanor battery conviction in California resulted in a protective order that originally barred the daddy, Aaron F. Brink, from contacting the suspect or Voepel except through an attorney, but was later modified to permit monitored visits with the kid.
The daddy also was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in custody for importation of marijuana and while on supervised release violated his conditions by testing positive for illegal steroids, in accordance with public records. Brink couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.
Aldrich’s request for a reputation change got here months after Aldrich was apparently targeted by online bullying. An internet site posting from June 2015 that attacked a teen named Nick Brink suggests they might have been bullied in highschool. The post included photos just like ones of the shooting suspect and ridiculed Brink over their weight, lack of cash and what it said was an interest in Chinese cartoons.
Moreover, a YouTube account was opened in Brink’s name that included an animation titled “Asian homosexual gets molested.”
The name change and bullying were first reported by The Washington Post.
Court documents laying out Aldrich’s arrest were sealed on the request of prosecutors. Aldrich was released from the hospital and was being held on the El Paso County jail, police said.
Local and federal authorities have declined to reply questions on why hate crime charges were being considered. District Attorney Michael Allen noted that the murder charges would carry the harshest penalty — life in prison — whereas bias crimes are eligible for probation. He also said it was vital to indicate the community that bias motivated crimes should not tolerated.
Aldrich was arrested last yr after their mother reported her child threatened her with a homemade bomb and other weapons. Ring doorbell video obtained by The Associated Press shows Aldrich arriving at their mother’s front door with a giant black bag the day of the 2021 bomb threat, telling her the police were nearby and adding, “That is where I stand. Today I die.”
Authorities on the time said no explosives were found, but gun-control advocates have asked why police didn’t use Colorado’s “red flag” laws to seize the weapons Aldrich’s mother says her child had.
The weekend assault took place at a nightclub generally known as a sanctuary for the LGBTQ community on this mostly conservative city of about 480,000 about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of Denver.
A longtime Club Q patron who was shot within the back and thigh said the club’s popularity made it a goal. Speaking in a video statement released by UC Health Memorial Hospital, Ed Sanders said he considered what he would do in a mass shooting after the 2016 massacre of 49 people on the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
“I believe this incident underlines the undeniable fact that LGBT people should be loved,” said Sanders, 63. “I would like to be resilient. I’m a survivor. I’m not going to be taken out by some sick person.”
The attack was halted by two club patrons including Richard Fierro, who told reporters that he took a handgun from Aldrich, hit them with it and pinned them down with help from one other person until police arrived.
The victims were Raymond Green Vance, 22, a Colorado Springs native who was saving money to get his own apartment; Ashley Paugh, 35, a mother who helped find homes for foster children; Daniel Aston, 28, who had worked on the club as a bartender and entertainer; Kelly Loving, 40, whose sister described her as “caring and sweet”; and Derrick Rump, 38, one other club bartender known for his wit.
Bedayn is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Associated Press reporters Bernard Condon in Latest York, Colleen Slevin in Denver, Jake Bleiberg in Dallas, Amy Forliti in Minneapolis, Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles and news researcher Rhonda Shafner from Latest York contributed.
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