Colorado LGBTQ bar massacre shooter found guilty of 74 hate crimes, gun charges during Pride Month

Anderson Lee Aldrich was sentenced to 55 consecutive life terms and 190 years in prison after pleading guilty to hate crimes for killing five people in 2022.

The man who opened fire at an LGBTQ bar in 2022 and killed five people was sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple hate crimes and weapons charges.

Kelly Loving, Raymond Green, Ashley Paugh, Daniel Davis Aston and Derrick Rump were killed in the shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which took place on November 19, 2022, PEOPLE reported at the time, citing Colorado Springs. Police Department.

Anderson Lee Aldrich pleaded guilty to 74 hate crime and firearm charges on Tuesday, June 18, and was sentenced to 55 consecutive life sentences and 190 years in prison, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs.

According to the Justice Department, “Aldrich admitted to murdering five people, wounding 19 and attempting to murder 26 others in a willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated attack at Club Q.”

“Today's sentencing makes clear that the Department of Justice is committed to protecting the right of every person in this country to live free from fear of being the target of hate-motivated violence or discrimination in because of who she is or who she loves,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement, according to the release.

Related: Army Veteran, Drag Queen Among Heroes Who Stopped Club Q Shooter: 'I Was Done With War'

U.S. District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney handed down the sentence and reprimanded the shooter, who uses “they/them” pronouns, for attacking “a community’s safe space,” according to ABC News.

“This community is much stronger than you, much stronger than your armor and much stronger than your weapons, and much stronger than your hate,” Sweeney said, further emphasizing the significance of their condemnation during Pride Month, an annual celebration that honors the LGBTQ community.

At the time of the sentencing, the shooter was already in prison on state charges to which he pleaded guilty in 2023, according to ABC News. They were sentenced to five consecutive life sentences in the case, Colorado Public Radio reported.

The shooter, who was 22 at the time, carried out the massacre on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, PEOPLE reported at the time, citing authorities.

Ashtin Gamblin, who was working outside the front door of Club Q the night of the massacre, spoke at the sentencing. “There was no respect for my life, there should be no respect for theirs,” said Gamblin, who was shot nine times, CBS affiliate KKTV reported.

Some survivors said it was the “final chapter” of the killings. “This should be the end, I hope, but I guess it's never going to end for us,” survivor Ed Sanders said, according to KRDO.

Svetlana Heim, a former employee of the club, told the outlet that she considered it “the last chapter of a book. It's over now. Very final. »

Related: Colorado Springs survivor recounts terror of LGBTQ club shooting: 'All I could think about was Pulse'

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“This is one of the most violent, hate-motivated mass shootings targeting the LGBTQIA+ community in our nation’s history,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, said at a news conference following the sentencing.

“Today’s conviction should send a strong message,” she continued. “We will not tolerate hate in our country and perpetrators of bias-motivated violence will be held accountable for their actions.”

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