On Friday, The Daily Beast reported that a judge warned the Club Q shooter was a risk, and needed mental health intervention, all the way back in 2021 when he was arrested on a separate offense.
"A year before Anderson Lee Aldrich allegedly opened fire at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, killing five people, a judge warned of his plans and said 'it’s going to be so bad' if he doesn’t get mental health treatment," reported Alec Karam. "Aldrich was arrested in 2021 on charges that he kidnapped his grandparents, stockpiled explosives, and allegedly spoke of plans to become the 'next mass killer' before getting in a standoff with SWAT teams."
The charges against Aldritch were ultimately dropped on that occasion, after his family refused to testify against him.
"According to court documents obtained by the Associated Press, Judge Robin Chittum made ominous comments to Aldrich during a preliminary hearing in the case," noted the report. “You clearly have been planning for something else,” the judge stated. “It didn’t have to do with your grandma and grandpa.”
Previous reports indicated that Aldritch was also on the radar of the FBI at the time.
Aldritch, who is now facing over 300 charges including murder and hate crime offenses for the nightclub shooting, could theoretically have had his firearms removed under Colorado's "red flag" law. There is no evidence that police, prosecutors, or members of his family moved to secure a red flag order against Aldritch. Even if they had, El Paso County, the right-leaning county that includes Colorado Springs, declared itself a "Second Amendment sanctuary," which theoretically prohibits local officials from helping to enforce any state or federal gun control law.
