Suspect in Club Shooting Is Nonbinary: Lawyers

Anderson Lee Aldrich was Nicholas Brink until changing their name at 15
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 22, 2022 11:53 AM CST
Updated Nov 23, 2022 6:22 AM CST
Suspect in Club Shooting Changed His Name
People sign the crosses of victims during a candlelight vigil Monday near the site of the mass shooting in Colorado Springs, Colo.   (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
UPDATE Nov 23, 2022 6:22 AM CST

The suspect in the Club Q shooting is nonbinary, according to their lawyer. In filing several motions Tuesday, public defenders Joseph Archambault and Michael Bowman added a footnote stating Anderson Lee Aldrich is "nonbinary" and uses "they/them pronouns," reports the Denver Post. They are referred to as "Mx. Aldrich." The 22-year-old, accused of killing five people and injuring 19 others before being subdued by patrons, was released from a Colorado Springs hospital on Tuesday and booked into El Paso County Jail. They are to make their first court appearance virtually on Wednesday, per the AP.

Nov 22, 2022 11:53 AM CST

The Washington Post has discovered why the background of 22-year-old Colorado Springs shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich is so barren of details. It turns out that Aldrich changed his name at age 15, the Post reports. He was born Nicholas Brink to parents Aaron and Laura Brink of Orange, California, in 2000, and the couple split a year later. Why Aldrich changed his name isn't clear, though the newspaper notes that not long before his 16th birthday, he'd been "the target of a particularly vicious bout of online bullying in which insulting accusations" were posted online about him.

Another notable incident in his childhood: When he was 12, his mother (under her maiden name of Laura Voepel) was arrested on suspicion of arson and later convicted of a lesser charge related to the incident. Last year, Aldrich himself was arrested after allegedly making a bomb threat in his mother's neighborhood, then charged with kidnapping and felony menacing, though the charges appear to have been dropped for reasons that are unclear. CNN has video from the incident of a man purported to be Aldrich, ranting about police. (It's not clear why that incident didn't trigger the state's red flag laws on gun ownership.)

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