COLORADO SPRINGS

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — (AP) — Authorities dropped a 2021 bomb threat case against the suspect in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting after family members refused to cooperate, the district attorney said Thursday. Aldrich, 22, was arrested in June 2021 on allegations of making a bomb threat that led to the evacuation of about 10 homes. The case was later dropped, and officials have refused to speak about it, citing a state law that calls for dismissed cases to be sealed. Aldrich also was the subject of a tip received by the FBI a day before the bomb threat. Under Colorado law, records are automatically sealed when a case is dropped and defendants are not prosecuted, as happened in Aldrich’s 2021 case.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — (AP) — The suspect in the Colorado gay nightclub shooting that killed five people tried to reclaim guns that were seized after a 2021 bomb threat, but a prosecutor said Thursday that the weapons not returned. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Authorities dropped a 2021 bomb threat case against the suspect in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting after family members refused to cooperate, the district attorney said Thursday. Aldrich threatened to harm family members and boasted of having bomb-making materials, ammunition and multiple weapons, according to law enforcement documents. Aldrich also was the subject of a tip received by the FBI a day before the bomb threat. Under Colorado law, records are automatically sealed when a case is dropped and defendants are not prosecuted, as happened in Aldrich’s 2021 case.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — (AP) — Authorities dropped a 2021 bomb threat case against the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooter after members of the suspect's family refused to cooperate, a Colorado district attorney said Thursday. Documents in the case claimed that Anderson Lee Aldrich threatened to kill relatives and to become the “next mass killer.”El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen said the bomb threat case was dismissed over the summer. The case had raised questions about why authorities did not seek to seize Aldrich's guns under Colorado’s “red flag” law. Under Colorado law, records are automatically sealed when a case is dropped and defendants are not prosecuted, as happened in Aldrich’s 2021 case. Public defender Joseph Archambault argued that while the public has an interest in the case, Aldrich’s right to a fair trial was paramount.

Judge Robin Chittum said the “proufound” public interest in the case outweighed the privacy rights of defendant Anderson Lee Aldrich. Under Colorado law, records are automatically sealed when a case is dropped and defendants are not prosecuted as happened in Aldrich’s 2021 case. Aldrich’s attorneys told the judge the defense filed a contempt of court motion against the sheriff’s office over an AP story that detailed what was in some of the sealed documents. At one point, Aldrich yelled that he would set off a bomb if law enforcement tried to enter before finally surrendering. The law enforcement official who confirmed the documents to the AP was not authorized to talk about them and so was given anonymity.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — (AP) — A judge unsealed a dropped bomb threat case Thursday against the Colorado gay bar shooting suspect who threatened to become the "next mass killer" over a year before allegedly killing five people and wounding seventeen others at the LGBTQ enclave Club Q. Judge Robin Chittum said the public interest in the case outweighed the privacy rights of defendant Anderson Lee Aldrich. “To ... see what occurred in a case is very foundational to our system of government to have that scrutiny. ... And the only way for that scrutiny to occur is for this to be unsealed.”The judge ruled despite objections from the suspect’s attorney and mother. The judge’s order to release the records comes after news organizations, including The Associated Press, sought to unseal the documents from Aldrich’s 2021 arrest.

Authorities dropped a 2021 bomb threat case against the suspect in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting after family members refused to cooperate, the district attorney said Thursday. El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen also said that Anderson Lee Aldrich tried to reclaim guns that were seized after the threat, but authorities did not return the weapons. Allen spoke hours after a judge unsealed the case, which indicated that Aldrich threatened to kill relatives and to become the “next mass killer” more than a year before the nightclub attack that killed five people.

The Colorado Springs gay bar shooting suspect's assertion of being nonbinary has put gender identity and pronouns — and some sensitive questions around them — back in the spotlight. Here's a look at nonbinary people, along with the pronouns they may use and how those words figure into the Aldrich case:WHAT DOES NONBINARY MEAN? In short, being nonbinary, as with any gender identity, including feeling like a man or woman, is a sense of self. Some people — nonbinary or not — use only they/them pronouns, rejecting an association with or making a statement about the gender binary. Aldrich, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, according to defense court filings, was arrested at the club and has been charged with over 300 counts, including hate crimes.

The Colorado Springs gay bar shooting suspect’s assertion of being nonbinary has put gender identity, pronouns and some sensitive questions around them back into the spotlight.

The shooter who killed five and injured more than a dozen others was charged with 305 crimes, including hate crimes.

The new information on the attack comes amid fresh reports that law enforcement knew how risky the suspect might have been.

Authorities say the person who would later kill five at a Colorado gay nightclub was on the FBI’s radar a day before being arrested for threatening to kill family members.

The suspect accused of entering a Colorado Springs gay nightclub and killing five people and wounding 17 others was formally charged with 305 criminal counts including hate crimes and murder.

Law enforcement agencies are still able to access sealed records, though they are limited in what they can share publicly. ___CAN SEALED RECORDS BE MADE PUBLIC? Colorado law allows anyone to ask a court to unseal a record if they believe the benefit outweighs the defendant’s right to privacy. ___WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE BOMB THREAT INCIDENT? It's not clear, because case records are sealed.

Law enforcement agencies are still able to access sealed records, though they are limited in what they can share publicly. ___CAN SEALED RECORDS BE MADE PUBLIC? Colorado law allows anyone to ask a court to unseal a record if they believe the benefit outweighs the defendant’s right to privacy. ___WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE BOMB THREAT INCIDENT? It's not clear, because case records are sealed.

More than a year before police say Anderson Lee Aldrich killed five people and wounded 17 others at a gay night club in Colorado Springs, Aldrich was arrested on allegations of making a bomb threat that led to the evacuation of about 10 homes.

In the 13 days since the shooting, Colorado Springs' LGBTQ community has worked to collect itself and forge ahead. In Colorado Springs, members of Out Loud prepared for three sold-out concerts, their first performances since the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to cancel shows. Colorado Springs residents are working to spread that feeling of togetherness throughout their city. A Las Vegas resident drove to Colorado Springs to play a piano fastened to the bed of his red Toyota pickup. Amidst vigils, marches and outpourings of support on social media, Aaron Cornelius is among those in Colorado Springs demanding the tragedy be mourned and remembered.

In the 13 days since the shooting, Colorado Springs' LGBTQ community has worked to collect itself and forge ahead. In Colorado Springs, members of Out Loud prepared for three sold-out concerts, their first performances since the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to cancel shows. Colorado Springs residents are working to spread that feeling of togetherness throughout their city. A Las Vegas resident drove to Colorado Springs to play a piano fastened to the bed of his red Toyota pickup. Amidst vigils, marches and outpourings of support on social media, Aaron Cornelius is among those in Colorado Springs demanding the tragedy be mourned and remembered.

A gay men's choir in Colorado Springs is among a group of organizations working locally to foster solidarity and healing after a shooting at a gay night club devastated Colorado Springs' LGBTQ community.

Club Q owner Nic Grzecka told NPR he and his staff are working on a yet-to-be-determined temporary solution. The Nov. 20 shooting killed 5 people and wounded another 17. A suspect has been arrested.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — (AP) — In a crowded brewery, Colorado Gov. Fierro squeezed Wyatt Kent, a drag queen whose 23rd birthday was being celebrated the night of the shooting, and chatted with his family. “If I pour myself out into others they will pour themselves out back into me,” said Kent, “and that’s what this community has always done.”The broader Colorado Springs community is pouring out support for the survivors, too. “I've never had that much money in my life,” said an astonished Fierro, who reiterated that “everyone in (Club Q) was a hero." “Club Q will be back and the community will be back,” he said.

Jared Polis on Tuesday visited the memorial outside a gay club where five people were killed last week, solemnly walking along a line of flowers, crosses and signs bearing the photos and names of the victims outside the building with the club's owners. We mourn them,” Polis said while speaking to reporters afterward outside Club Q in Colorado Springs. “Club Q will be back and the community will be back,” he said. Aldrich was arrested at the club after being stopped and beaten by patrons. Today I die.”Authorities at 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 allegedly had.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has visited the memorial outside a gay club where five people were killed in a shooting attack last week.

Thomas James was injured while helping subdue a man who shot and killed five people at a gay nightclub in Colorado.

A member of the U.S. Navy who was injured while helping subdue a man who shot and killed five people at a gay nightclub in Colorado said he simply wanted to save the family that he had found.

Focus on the Family, a prominent Christian organization in Colorado Springs, was vandalized on Thanksgiving Day with a message tying the facility to the Club Q shooting.

Residents take pride in describing Colorado Springs as a place defined by reinvention. “I have been thinking for years, we’re in the middle of a transition about what Colorado Springs is, who we are, and what we’ve become,” said Matt Mayberry, a historian who directs the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. Still, he noted signs that the city was more culturally conservative than others of similar size and much of Colorado: “Colorado Springs is kind of an outlier,” he said. Now he's grieving the loss of Rump and Aston, both of whom were slain in the club shooting. Colorado Springs voted 3 to 1 in favor of Amendment 2, helping make its narrow statewide victory possible.

A mass shooting at a popular gay club in Colorado Springs has resurfaced questions about the city's past and future among its residents.

Even though general acceptance of the LGBTQ community has grown, this new dynamic has fostered a dangerous climate. “Lying about our community, and making them into something they are not, creates a different type of hate,” said Grzecka. Grzecka said Club Q opened after the only other gay bar in Colorado Springs at that time shuttered. Club Q was at the vanguard of that transition. Drag queen bingo nights, friendsgiving and Christmas dinners, birthday celebrations became staples of Club Q which was open 365 days a year.

Even though general acceptance of the LGBTQ community has grown, this new dynamic has fostered a dangerous climate. “Lying about our community, and making them into something they are not, creates a different type of hate,” said Grzecka. Grzecka said Club Q opened after the only other gay bar in Colorado Springs at that time shuttered. Club Q was at the vanguard of that transition. Drag queen bingo nights, friendsgiving and Christmas dinners, birthday celebrations became staples of Club Q which was open 365 days a year.

Even though general acceptance of the LGBTQ community has grown, this new dynamic has fostered a dangerous climate. “Lying about our community, and making them into something they are not, creates a different type of hate,” said Grzecka. Grzecka said Club Q opened after the only other gay bar in Colorado Springs at that time shuttered. Club Q was at the vanguard of that transition. Drag queen bingo nights, friendsgiving and Christmas dinners, birthday celebrations became staples of Club Q which was open 365 days a year.

The co-owner of Colorado Springs’ Club Q said that anti-LGBTQ hate has evolved from prejudice to incitement.

The exchange between the two came in a week that featured high-profile mass shootings at a Colorado nightclub and at a Walmart in Virginia.

Aaron Brink, the father of Club Q shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich, told media that he 'praised' his son for 'violent behavior' when he was younger.

After a gunman in Colorado Springs was taken down by bar patrons, News 6 spoke with a self-defense expert who expressed the importance of self-defense.

A motive for the shooting is still under investigation, but the suspect is facing murder and hate crime charges.

Right-wing attorney Jenna Ellis, who has a history of anti-LGBTQ bigotry, suggested the victims were suffering in hell.

A survivor of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando is set to fly to Colorado Springs in support of the victims of the Club Q attack over the weekend.

Ed Sanders, 63, a regular at the club, had stopped by for a drink on the night of shooting. He was shot in the back.

VanScyoc was facing the entrance from behind a glass wall when the shooter came in, she said. Patrons at the gay club that night were celebrating a drag queen's birthday and the atmosphere had been festive. As the shooter moved deeper into the club, VanScyoc heard another volley of shots. Out on the patio, Bridgewater said he started to flee as the first volleys rang out, but panicked and tripped over a stool. In the early morning hours after the shooting, Bridgewater and others gathered in a friend’s apartment, watching the story unfold in the media.

The suspect in the Club Q shooting in Colorado that left five people dead and many injured appeared in court virtually Wednesday and was held without bail.

The suspect in the Club Q shooting that left five people dead and many injured appeared in court virtually Wednesday and was held without bail.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene used her newly reinstated Twitter account to hurl an anti-gay slur.

The suspect in the deadly mass shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs, Colo., made a virtual court appearance on Wednesday. In a video feed from El Paso County Jail, Aldrich appeared in an orange jumpsuit slumped over in a wheelchair with visible facial bruises. According to police, Aldrich used an AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon in the attack. “It has all the trappings of a hate crime,” Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said on NBC’s “Today” show Monday. No explosives were found, prosecutors did not pursue charges, and the case was sealed, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, the 22-year-old suspected of killing five people at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colo., made an initial court appearance on Wednesday.

via InstagramMMA-fighter-turned-porn-actor Aaron Franklin Brink had an immediate reaction when he learned his 22-year-old son had been accused of slaughtering five people and injuring 18 others last weekend in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs nightspot catering to the LGBTQ community.A defense attorney called Sunday night and told Brink, who lives in Southern California, that Anderson Lee Aldrich was under arrest for the massacre at Club Q.“They started telling me about the incident, a shoo

Anderson Lee Aldrich, the suspect accused of killing five in a shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is described by public defenders as being "non-binary."

At least seven people, including the suspect, were killed at the Walmart Supercenter in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Just before midnight, witnesses say the gunman entered the Colorado Springs nightclub wearing a military-style jacket and carrying two guns.

An investigation into the mass shooting is underway and a suspect has been arrested, but authorities have yet to identify a motive in the attack.

Even before the deadly shooting, gay and trans residents described Colorado Springs as a difficult place to be out. But Club Q provided a respite.

So many flags in rainbow colors, bouquets of rainbow-colored balloons, rainbow hearts contradict the mayhem and horror in Colorado Springs

I said a prayer for the deceased, bemoaned our nation's gun laws and moved on. Hopefully, the Fierros weren't among the affected, I thought.

The victims of the nation's latest mass shooting spanned a spectrum of American life.

The Fox News personality's comments about "violence and cruelty" following the Colorado Springs shooting rang very hollow for many online.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez read the preferred pronouns and names of the five people killed in the shooting at Club Q. LGBTQ advocates say it matters.

Hundreds of people, many holding candles and wiping away tears, have gathered in a Colorado Springs park to honor those killed and wounded when a gunman opened fire on a nightlife venue that for decades was a sanctuary for the local LGBTQ community.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson voices his concerns about sexual exploitation and mutilation of transgender children on Monday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

First he dove to duck any potential incoming fire, and then he moved to try to disarm the shooter. Fierro told reporters that once his instincts kicked in, he and another man approached the shooter. He also told James to kick away the shooter's AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. When a performer who was there for the drag show ran by, Fierro told them to kick the gunman. The performer stuffed a high-heeled shoe in the attacker's face and also tried to subdue him, Fierro said.

A former neighbor of the shooter who killed five and injured more at a Colorado Springs gay bar discusses his experiences with the gunman.

Investigators have filed murder and hate crime charges in connection with the mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.

Law enforcement is crediting two patrons of a Colorado Springs gay club for saving lives by tackling and subduing a 22-year-old gunman who went on a shooting rampage there Saturday night. Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez on Monday said Richard Fierro and Thomas James stopped the shooter, who was armed with an AR-15-style semi-automatic weapon, a handgun and additional ammunition magazines. Vasquez said Fierro, an army veteran and the co-owner of a local brewery, acted courageously when he became aware that a gunman was attacking the town's preeminent gay club over the weekend. “I have never encountered a person who had engaged in such heroic actions who was so humble about it," Vasquez said of Fierro. Fierro's wife, Jess, wrote on Facebook that her husband had bruised his right side and injured his hands, knees and ankle while apprehending the gunman.

Law enforcement is crediting two patrons of a Colorado Springs gay club for saving lives by tackling and subduing a 22-year-old gunman who went on a shooting rampage there Saturday night. Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez on Monday said Richard Fierro and Thomas James stopped the shooter, who was armed with an AR-15-style semi-automatic weapon, a handgun and additional ammunition magazines. Vasquez said Fierro, an army veteran and the co-owner of a local brewery, acted courageously when he became aware that a gunman was attacking the town's preeminent gay club over the weekend.

The five people who were killed at a gay club in Colorado are being remembered as loving parents, enthusiastic performers and longtime patrons who cherished Club Q as a safe haven for members of the LGBTQ community.

The Central Florida community sadly knows all-too-well the pain and hurt that many people are enduring in Colorado Springs after a mass shooting over the weekend at Club Q, a gay nightclub.

In the mostly conservative city of Colorado Springs, Club Q has long been a go-to spot for members of the LGBTQ community — a safe space where many felt they could just be themselves.

Daniel Aston would let loose on a typical night at Club Q in Colorado Springs as a bartender and entertainer, sliding across the stage on all fours.

Hundreds of people have gathered in a Colorado Springs park to honor five people killed and 17 wounded in a weekend shooting at a gay nightclub.

The suspect in the Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooting allegedly threatened his mother with a homemade bomb last year.

The Orlando LGBTQ+ community and local leaders reacted on Sunday to the shooting inside of a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs that killed five people and 25 injured.

A prison psychologist and a psychiatrist say a mentally ill man charged with killing three people and wounding eight others at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015 could be made well enough to stand trial if he is given anti-psychotic medication.

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $38.8 million to Junior Achievement USA and 26 local operations — the largest single gift in its 103-year history — the national education nonprofit announced Tuesday.

The city of Colorado Springs has reached a nearly $3 million settlement in a civil lawsuit brought by the family of a 19-year-old Black man who was fatally shot in the back by police officers in 2019.

A dog that was missing for two weeks in Colorado was rescued from a ledge 50 yards above a creek this month and is back home.

A top Southern Baptist Convention committee agreed Tuesday to fund a third-party investigation into its handling of sexual abuse allegations.

USA Basketball now has a full 12-man roster for the Tokyo Games, after Chicago’s Zach LaVine and Detroit’s Jerami Grant accepted invitations Wednesday to join the team that will try to win the program’s fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.

Police say a man who fatally shot six people at a Colorado birthday party before killing himself was upset after not being invited to the weekend gathering thrown by his girlfriend’s family.

Police in Colorado are investigating what led a gunman to open fire at a birthday party inside a trailer park home, killing six adults before he took his own life.

A gunman opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado, slaying six adults before killing himself Sunday.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A hunter from Colorado Springs has been permanently banned from hunting in 48 states, including Colorado, after he pleaded guilty to several poaching charges across the state. He then pleaded guilty in December 2019 in Teller County and again in February 2020 in Fremont County. AdKapu also pleaded guilty to illegal possession of three or more big game animals. AdFrank McGee, an agency wildlife manager in Colorado Springs, said this should be a warning to anyone considering poaching in the state. “Colorado Parks and Wildlife aggressively pursues anyone who illegally takes wildlife.

Nearly 9.5 million seniors, or 16.5% of U.S. adults 65 and older, lack internet access, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. One of her patients, who’s 83, called her in tears, unable to navigate the online appointment system at Rite Aid. But even a Colorado health provider setting up vaccine clinics for underserved communities, Salud Family Health Centers, said their phone lines can’t handle the volume of calls they’re receiving and encouraged people to go online. "And if you don’t have access to a computer, you’re at a disadvantage.”Even Cortez had trouble as she tried to help Jones. She called numbers listed on the Colorado health department website and several Safeway stores after Jones heard friends were vaccinated there.

The global pandemic won't stop them from tracking Santa Claus' progress as he delivers gifts around the globe on Christmas Eve. The North American Aerospace Defense Command has announced that NORAD will track Santa on Dec. 24, just as it has done for 65 years. “We understand this is a time-honored tradition, and we know undoubtedly there is going to be some disappointment,” said NORAD spokesman Preston Schlachter. Schlachter said NORAD will largely be limiting volunteers to people who already work there and their immediate families. The tracking Santa apps will soon be available on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Heads up, parents: Your child’s Nerf gun at home could get them in hot water while participating in virtual school. On the third day of virtual learning in August, a Colorado Springs, Colorado, seventh grader picked up his toy gun during a virtual class and the school called police, according to the KDVR. Isaiah Elliot was reportedly seen flashing a toy gun on the screen during his art class, and his teacher informed the school’s principal about the incident. According to the KDVR, the toy gun was black and green with “Zombie Hunter” on the side. “We follow all school board policies whether we are in-person learning or distance learning.

This July 17, 2020 photo provided by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum shows the U.S. Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colo. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum announced Monday, July 20, 2020 that it will open July 30. The museum, located in downtown Colorado Springs, cost around $91 million and will feature 12 exhibits over 60,000 square feet. It will have a first-of-its-kind tribute to the 1980 Olympic team, which was forced to miss the Moscow Games because of a boycott. Olympic & Paralympic Museum via AP)

This July 17, 2020 photo provided by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum shows the U.S. Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colo. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum announced Monday, July 20, 2020 that it will open July 30. It will have a first-of-its-kind tribute to the 1980 Olympic team, which was forced to miss the Moscow Games because of a boycott. Olympic & Paralympic Museum via AP)A 60,000-square foot museum that will include a first-of-its-kind tribute to the 1980 U.S. Olympic team is scheduled to open July 30 in Colorado Springs after a three-year construction project. The project was conceived in 2012, as Olympic leaders looked to establish the first full-fledged Olympic museum in the United States.